Symbol vs. Token — What's the Difference?

A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different concepts and experiences.

Something serving as an indication, proof, or expression of something else; a sign

A mark or character used as a conventional representation of an object, function, or process, e.g. the letter or letters standing for a chemical element or a character in musical notation

Something that signifies or evidences authority, validity, or identity

A thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract

A specific instance of a phenomenon or a class of things, as of a linguistic feature in a sample of a person's speech, that can be isolated for study or analysis.

Symbolize.

A person who is considered as representative of a social group, such as a lone individual or one of a small number of employees hired primarily to prevent an employer from being accused of discrimination.

Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible

A keepsake or souvenir.

An instance that typifies a broader pattern or situation

A piece of stamped metal used as a substitute for currency

A printed or written sign used to represent an operation, element, quantity, quality, or relation, as in mathematics or music.

A small electronic device issued to a user to serve as proof of identity, as for the purpose of accessing a network.

(Psychology) An object or image that an individual unconsciously uses to represent repressed thoughts, feelings, or impulses

A piece of software that serves as proof of the user's identity.

A character or glyph representing an idea, concept or object.

To betoken or symbolize; portend.

A thing considered the embodiment of a concept or object.

Done as an indication or pledge

(linguistics) A type of noun whereby the form refers to the same entity independently of the context; a symbol arbitrarily denotes a referent. See also icon and index.

Perfunctory; minimal

A summary of a dogmatic statement of faith.

Being a product of tokenism; merely symbolic

(crystallography) The numerical expression which defines a plane's position relative to the assumed axes.

Something serving as an expression of something else.

(obsolete) That which is thrown into a common fund; hence, an appointed or accustomed duty.

A keepsake.

(obsolete) Share; allotment.

A piece of stamped metal or plastic, etc., used as a substitute for money; a voucher that can be exchanged for goods or services.

(programming) An internal identifier used by a debugger to relate parts of the compiled program to the corresponding names in the source code.

A small physical object, often designed to give the appearance of a common thing, used to represent a person or character in a board game or other situation.

(telecommunications) A signalling event on a communications channel; a signal that cannot be further divided into meaningful information.

A minor attempt for appearance's sake, or to minimally comply with a requirement.

To symbolize.

A member of a group of people that is included within a larger group to comply with a legal or social requirement.

A visible sign or representation of an idea; anything which suggests an idea or quality, or another thing, as by resemblance or by convention; an emblem; a representation; a type; a figure; as, the lion is the symbol of courage; the lamb is the symbol of meekness or patience.

Evidence, proof; a confirming detail; physical trace, mark, footprint.

Any character used to represent a quantity, an operation, a relation, or an abbreviation.

Support for a belief; grounds for an opinion.

An abstract or compendium of faith or doctrine; a creed, or a summary of the articles of religion.

An extraordinary event serving as evidence of supernatural power.

That which is thrown into a common fund; hence, an appointed or accustomed duty.

An object or disclosure to attest or authenticate the bearer or an instruction.

Share; allotment.

A seal guaranteeing the quality of an item.

An abbreviation standing for the name of an element and consisting of the initial letter of the Latin or New Latin name, or sometimes of the initial letter with a following one; as, C for carbon, Na for sodium (Natrium), Fe for iron (Ferrum), Sn for tin (Stannum), Sb for antimony (Stibium), etc. See the list of names and symbols under Element.

Something given or shown as a symbol or guarantee of authority or right; a sign of authenticity, of power, good faith.

To symbolize.

A tally.

An arbitrary sign (written or printed) that has acquired a conventional significance

(philosophy) A particular thing to which a concept applies.

Something visible that by association or convention represents something else that is invisible;

(computing) An atomic piece of data, such as a word, for which a meaning may be inferred during parsing.

(computing) A conceptual object that can be possessed by a computer, process, etc. in order to regulate a turn-taking system such as a token ring network.

(computing) A meaningless placeholder used as a substitute for sensitive data.

(grammar) A lexeme; a basic, grammatically indivisible unit of a language such as a keyword, operator or identifier.

(corpus linguistics) A single example of a certain word in a text or corpus.

(medical) A characteristic sign of a disease or of a bodily disorder, a symptom; a sign of a bodily condition, recovery, or health.

A livid spot upon the body, indicating, or supposed to indicate, the approach of death.

(printing) Ten and a half quires, or, commonly, 250 sheets, of paper printed on both sides; also, in some cases, the same number of sheets printed on one side, or half the number printed on both sides.

(mining) A bit of leather having a peculiar mark designating a particular miner. Each hewer sent one of these with each corf or tub he had hewn.

(mining) A thin bed of coal indicating the existence of a thicker seam at no great distance.

(rail transport) A physical object used for exchange between drivers and signalmen on single track lines.

(weaving) In a loom, a colored signal to show the weaver which shuttle to use.

(Church of Scotland) A piece of metal given beforehand to each person in the congregation who is permitted to partake of the Lord's Supper.

Done as an indication or a pledge.

Perfunctory or merely symbolic; done or existing for appearance's sake, or to minimally comply with a requirement.

(of people) Included in minimal numbers in order to create an impression or illusion of diversity, especially ethnic or gender diversity.

To betoken, indicate, portend, designate, denote

To betroth

(philosophy) To symbolize, instantiate

Something intended or supposed to represent or indicate another thing or an event; a sign; a symbol; as, the rainbow is a token of God's covenant established with Noah.

A memorial of friendship; something by which the friendship of another person is to be kept in mind; a memento; a souvenir.

Something given or shown as a symbol or guarantee of authority or right; a sign of authenticity, of power, good faith, etc.

A piece of metal intended for currency, and issued by a private party, usually bearing the name of the issuer, and redeemable in lawful money. Also, a coin issued by government, esp. when its use as lawful money is limited and its intrinsic value is much below its nominal value.

A livid spot upon the body, indicating, or supposed to indicate, the approach of death.

Ten and a half quires, or, commonly, 250 sheets, of paper printed on both sides; also, in some cases, the same number of sheets printed on one side, or half the number printed on both sides.

A piece of metal given beforehand to each person in the congregation who is permitted to partake of the Lord's Supper.

A bit of leather having a peculiar mark designating a particular miner. Each hewer sends one of these with each corf or tub he has hewn.

In a Jacquard loom, a colored signal to show the weaver which shuttle to use.

To betoken.

An individual instance of a type of symbol;

A metal or plastic disk that can be used (as a substitute for coins) in slot machines

Something of sentimental value

Insignificantly small; a matter of form only (`tokenish' is informal);