Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[puzzle]

Dear teachers,
Could you tell me the differences between " stand for" and "represent"? I always think it's right to say " The moon represents my love." or " The dove represents peace." but today I see somewhere they say : "The moon stands for my love". Is that OK? Then how can we distinguish them?
Thank you very much!

[pugachevV]

Yes it's OK.

Stand for means (in one sense) to be a symbol for something.