In its most general sense, a sign or symbol. More specifically, the term is sometimes reserved for a sign that resembles the thing it represents: images, diagrams, and onomatopoeic words. Iconic features of a message are those that resemble features of what is reported: for example a temporal order of reporting typically mirrors the temporal order of events, as in Caesar’s ‘Veni, vidi, vici’ (‘I came, I saw, I conquered’).