emblem means A representative symbol, such as a trademark, a badge or logo. It carries an Arena rating of 1495, earned across 2 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, emblem ranks #577 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,607 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #1,637 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #5,955 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
emblem is pronounced /ˈɛmbləm/.
Why “emblem” is a great word
A tangible design or object taken as a symbol of an idea, institution, or abstract quality. From Old French embleme, from Latin emblēma ("raised ornament, mosaic work"), from Ancient Greek ἔμβλημα (émblēma, "an insertion"), from ἐμβάλλειν (embállein, "to put in, to lay on"); the sense of "symbol" developed in French in the 16th century. Unlike "symbol," a broad, often intangible category, or "logo," a strictly commercial badge, an emblem is a formal, crafted representation meant to be held in the eye and the hand. It is the lion rampant on a shield, the serpent coiled around a staff of healing, the small silver badge pinned to a lapel in silence and solidarity—each raised surface catching light, each inviting the touch that deepens its meaning. It is the opposite of abstraction: conviction given heft, the invisible made seen and graspable.
Etymology
From Old French embleme, from Latin emblēma (“raised ornaments on vessels, tessellated work, mosaic”), from Ancient Greek ἔμβλημα (émblēma, “an insertion”), from ἐμβάλλειν (embállein, “to put in, to lay on”). Doublet of emblema.
noun
- A representative symbol, such as a trademark, a badge or logo.e.g.“The medical trucks were emblazoned with the emblem of the Red Cross.”
- Something that represents a larger whole.e.g.“The rampant poverty in the ethnic slums was just an emblem of the group's disenfranchisement by the society as a whole.”
- Inlay; inlaid or mosaic work; something ornamental inserted in a surface.e.g.“Broider'd the ground, more color'd than with stone
Of costliest emblem” — 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker,
- A picture accompanied with a motto, a set of verses, etc. intended as a moral lesson or meditation.
- A picture placed on the field of the escutcheon.e.g.“Near-synonym: charge”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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