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B2 · Upper Intermediate Countable noun

n. a person or thing that is very famous and represents a certain style or idea.

n. a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol or as worthy of veneration within a specific field or culture.

日本語:アイコン※

“She became a fashion icon after her first movie was released.”

“The late architect remains a global icon, having redefined urban living through his innovative use of sustainable materials.”

C1 · Advanced Countable noun Religion Formal

n. a religious painting of a holy person, usually done on wood.

n. a representation of a sacred personage or event, typically painted on a wooden panel and used in the devotional traditions of Orthodox Christianity.

“The old church was filled with gold-covered icons of saints.”

“Art historians spent months restoring the fourteenth-century icon, carefully removing layers of soot to reveal the original pigment.”

C2 · Proficiency Countable noun Science Academic · Technical

n. a sign or word that looks or sounds like the thing it describes.

n. a sign whose form directly reflects the properties of its referent, such as an onomatopoeic word or a literal diagram.

“In linguistics, a map is an icon because it looks like the land it shows.”

“Peirce distinguished the icon from the index and the symbol based on the specific nature of the relationship between the signifier and the signified.”