symbolist
noun
sym·bol·ist
| \ ˈsim-bə-list
\
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Definition of symbolist
2
: one skilled in the interpretation or explication of symbols
3
often capitalized
: 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
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Examples of symbolist in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
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, "A mind-bending history of mescaline," 28 June 2019 In the 1890s, the women shared Gabriele d’Annunzio, the soldier, rogue, hedonist and symbolist poet. — Rachel Shteir, WSJ, "‘Playing to the Gods’ Review: Avatars of Female Anguish," 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, "The First Great Film Adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull," 24 Apr. 2018 The description is fitting: front man Dan Bejar’s lyrics feel like symbolist poetry, with lines of varying lengths crammed with allusions to history, film, and—especially—pop music stacked on top of each other like records in a wobbling tower. — Tal Rosenberg, Chicago Reader, "Destroyer’s Ken simplifies symbolism with similes and simpering," 12 Jan. 2018 Based on a fairy tale by Aleister Crowley, the colorful early 20th-century British poet and magician, the opera’s story follows some of the same themes as Bluebeard’s Castle, in the symbolist mode of Maeterlinck. — Peter Dobrin, Philly.com, "O17 hits the Barnes with a hallucinatory fairy tale," 19 Sep. 2017 New York painter Packer will display recent work, contemporary portraiture and still lifes that convey the watery warmth of symbolist art. — Tal Rosenberg, Chicago Reader, "Ten best bets for fall visual arts," 15 Sep. 2017 The scientific advancements of the day also ushered in a golden age of belief in supernatural forces and energies, and symbolists, in turn, were heavily influenced by the occult and the dream world. — Jackie Mansky, Smithsonian, "Did Edvard Munch Find a Supernatural Power in Color?," 11 Sep. 2017 Dylan had found his own voice in the works of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, French symbolists like Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud, and the rich and powerful music of Robert Johnson and Woody Guthrie. — Jeff Slate, Esquire, "Why Bob Dylan Deserves His Nobel Prize," 13 Oct. 2016These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'symbolist.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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