Skip to content

emblem

noun

  1. pictorial image that epitomizes a concept or that represents a person
L299331 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈɛmbləm/

noun

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.

  1. A representative symbol, such as a trademark, a badge or logo.

    The medical trucks were emblazoned with the emblem of the Red Cross.

    His ſicatrice, with an Embleme of warre, heere on his ſiniſter cheeke;

  2. Something that represents a larger whole.

    The rampant poverty in the ethnic slums was just an emblem of the group's disenfranchisement by the society as a whole.

    Yes, there were instances of grandstanding and obsessive behaviour, but many were concealed at the time to help protect an aggressively peddled narrative of Pistorius the paragon, the emblem, the trailblazer.

  3. Inlay; inlaid or mosaic work; something ornamental inserted in a surface.

    Broider'd the ground, more color'd than with stone Of costliest emblem

  4. A picture accompanied with a motto, a set of verses, etc. intended as a moral lesson or meditation.

    An Emblem is but a ſilent Parable:

  5. A picture placed on the field of the escutcheon.

    Near-synonym: charge

verb

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.

  1. To symbolize.