symbolic

Etymology

From French symbolique or directly from Latin symbolicus, from Ancient Greek συμβολικός (sumbolikós, “of or belonging to a symbol”).

adj

1. Pertaining to a symbol.
   Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures. 2013-06-28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21
2. Implicitly representing or referring to another thing.
   a symbolic gesture