Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

symbolic

 adjective
     
sym‧bol‧ic
1 important but not having any real effect
symbolic gesture/act
The protest was a symbolic gesture of anger at official policy.
symbolic significance/importance
a meeting of symbolic importance
purely/largely symbolic
It was a largely symbolic gesture from a government trying to win support.
2 representing a particular idea or quality:
Each element of the ceremony has a symbolic meaning.
symbolic of
Today's fighting is symbolic of the chaos which the country is facing.
3 using or involving symbols:
A map is a form of symbolic representation.
—symbolically adverb
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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