symbolist
noun
sym·bol·ist
ˈsim-bə-list 
2
: one skilled in the interpretation or explication of symbols
3
often Symbolist
: one of a group of writers and artists in France after 1880 reacting against realism, concerning themselves with general truths instead of actualities, exalting the metaphysical and the mysterious, and aiming to unify and blend the arts and the functions of the senses
symbolist
adjective
Examples of symbolist in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Enter the prose poem, a genre-defying form that emerged from the nineteenth–century French Symbolists.
—
Patrick Dundon, JSTOR Daily, 9 Apr. 2026
Even the Tampere Cathedral is a Modernist provocation, with a treatment of the Resurrection by Finnish symbolist Magnus Enckell; a serpent painted into the ceiling; and another painting that depicts death as a kind of caring angel.
—Boris Fishman, Travel + Leisure, 8 Feb. 2026
The latter charge is ironic, seeing that the score, by Claude Debussy, was inspired by a poem by Stéphane Mallarmé, a Symbolist.
—Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue, 11 July 2024
What distinguishes this tale, told in a comic vein, from the symbolist vein of the femme-fatale tale, is the carefree nature of the man’s leap.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 15 Nov. 2021
Among the artists included at both museums is Tyra Kleen, a symbolist painter of the same era.
—Andrew Ferren, New York Times, 21 Oct. 2019
Genteel Edwardian experimenters like Havelock Ellis and W.B. Yeats saw it as a pathway to the symbolist worlds of that period’s art.
—The Economist, 28 June 2019
In the 1890s, the women shared Gabriele d’Annunzio, the soldier, rogue, hedonist and symbolist poet.
—Rachel Shteir, WSJ, 23 Aug. 2018
Konstantin, Irina’s son, is staging his first play, an ambitious symbolist work set unfathomably far in the future.
—Josephine Livingstone, The New Republic, 24 Apr. 2018
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Patrick Dundon, JSTOR Daily, 9 Apr. 2026
Even the Tampere Cathedral is a Modernist provocation, with a treatment of the Resurrection by Finnish symbolist Magnus Enckell; a serpent painted into the ceiling; and another painting that depicts death as a kind of caring angel.
—Boris Fishman, Travel + Leisure, 8 Feb. 2026
The latter charge is ironic, seeing that the score, by Claude Debussy, was inspired by a poem by Stéphane Mallarmé, a Symbolist.
—Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue, 11 July 2024
What distinguishes this tale, told in a comic vein, from the symbolist vein of the femme-fatale tale, is the carefree nature of the man’s leap.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 15 Nov. 2021
Among the artists included at both museums is Tyra Kleen, a symbolist painter of the same era.
—Andrew Ferren, New York Times, 21 Oct. 2019
Genteel Edwardian experimenters like Havelock Ellis and W.B. Yeats saw it as a pathway to the symbolist worlds of that period’s art.
—The Economist, 28 June 2019
In the 1890s, the women shared Gabriele d’Annunzio, the soldier, rogue, hedonist and symbolist poet.
—Rachel Shteir, WSJ, 23 Aug. 2018
Konstantin, Irina’s son, is staging his first play, an ambitious symbolist work set unfathomably far in the future.
—Josephine Livingstone, The New Republic, 24 Apr. 2018
Cite this Entry
“Symbolist.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/symbolist. Accessed 27 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
symbolist
noun
sym·bol·ist
ˈsim-bə-ləst
1
: a user of symbols or symbolism (as in poetry)
2
: an expert in the explaining of symbols
symbolist
adjective
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