Because of that criticism, Mr. Massino became an unlikely symbol in the death penalty debate.

I think it's also an unlikely but important symbol of our democracy, because any concerned citizen can access the rule-making process via the CFR, and that's what open government is about.

Several thousand delegates of the party, the National Alliance, gathered here under the nonthreatening, if unlikely, symbol of a red-and-black ladybug.

In this legal tussle, the bicycle has emerged as an unlikely symbol of defiance in New York City, something many cyclists have mixed feelings about.

It will be the end of an unlikely symbol.

Now he's the unlikely symbol of a storybook season.

But Lilith Fair, a savvy mix of activism and self-promotion, made her not only a household name but also an unlikely feminist symbol.

According to historian Stephen Hardin, "the cannon became a point of honor and an unlikely rallying symbol.

That prospect is making Mr. Massino, who prosecutors said was the last of the official Mafia chiefs still at large, an unlikely symbol in the capital punishment debate.

Symbol of Reunion The Trabant, or "Trabi," as everyone now knows it, has become the unlikely symbol of the Great German Reunion.