Definition of: symbolist

(sim′bəl·ist) noun
1. One who uses symbols; one versed or ardent in the interpretation or use of symbols; especially, one who regards the elements in the Eucharist as mere symbols.
2. One of a class of French and Belgian writers and artists of the late 19th century, including Verlaine, Mallarmé and Maeterlinck, who sought to exalt the metaphysical by suggesting ideas and emotions by patterns of color and form and by symbolic meanings of objects, words, and sound.