•1: an authoritative summary of faith or doctrine: CREED
•2: something that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship, association, convention, or accidental resemblance; especially: a visible sign of something invisible <the lion is a symbol of courage>
•3: an arbitrary or conventional sign used in writing or printing relating to a particular field to represent operations, quantities, elements, relations, or qualities
•4: an object or act representing something in the unconscious mind that has been repressed <phallic symbols>
•5: an act, sound, or object having cultural significance and the capacity to excite or objectify a response