Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A figure of speech in which the name of a part is used to stand for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the thing made from it (as steel for sword).
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In rhetoric, a figure or trope by which the whole of a thing is put for a part, or a part for the whole, as the genus for the species, or the species for the genus, etc.: as, for example, a fleet of ten sail (for ships); a master employing new hands (for workmen). Compare
metonymy .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Rhet.) A figure or trope by which a part of a thing is put for the whole (as, fifty
sail for fiftyships ), or the whole for a part (as, the smilingyear forspring ), the species for the genus (as,cutthroat forassassin ), the genus for the species (as, acreature for aman ), the name of the material for the thing made, etc.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun rhetoric A figure or trope by which a part of a thing is put for the whole, the whole for a part, the species for the genus, the genus for the species, or the name of the material for the thing made, and similar.
- noun rhetoric The use of synecdoche;
synecdochy .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun substituting a more inclusive term for a less inclusive one or vice versa
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Bill would have found a way to include the word "synecdoche" somewhere in that last sentence.
Buckley, If Not God, Returns to Yale Neal B. Freeman 2011
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The literary term synecdoche -- confusing a part for a whole -- is helpful in understanding how late twentieth-century Americans constructed an image of youth in crisis, as shocking episodes reinforced an impression that childhood was disintegrating.
Archive 2005-03-01 M-mv 2005
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In the informative spirit of today's Chat Update, I should point out that genericide is a form of the twinned literary term "synecdoche" and "metonymy,"
The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington Post 2011
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Should I be ashamed to admit that I have found recourse to the word synecdoche in many conversations, several of them about the film itself?
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In the figure we call synecdoche, a part of the whole becomes a name for the whole, or vice versa as in "sixty head of cattle" or "fifty sails."
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Why, regardless of place and culture, do people insist upon this bizarre synecdoche, which is even permitted to become almost literal in the case of Dear Leader Kim Jong-il and his god-like father -- all other North Koreans being, in effect, little more than their bodily extensions?
Archive 2009-05-01 2009
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The literary term synecdoche -- confusing a part for a whole -- is helpful in understanding how late twentieth-century Americans constructed an image of youth in crisis, as shocking episodes reinforced an impression that childhood was disintegrating.
On the nightstand (under the pillow, in the knapsack, etc.) M-mv 2005
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And he says that this rule applies in two ways: either to the figure of speech called synecdoche, or to legitimate numbers.
On Christian Doctrine, in Four Books Saint Augustine 1887
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One step farther, and Theobald would have discovered the true solution: he only required to know that _the shoes_, by a figure of rhetoric called synecdoche, may stand for the whole character and attributes of Hercules, to have saved himself the trouble of conjecturing an ingenious, though infinitely worse word, as a substitute.
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You can look it up: A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole
unknown title 2009
john commented on the word synecdoche
See Erin McKean, lexicographer to the stars, using "synecdochial" here.
September 28, 2007
npydyuan commented on the word synecdoche
See also metonymy.
October 12, 2007
atourgates commented on the word synecdoche
After learning about synecdoche in a literature class, I was so proud of my elitism in understanding it. Now, Kaufman's ruined everything.
October 29, 2008
Telofy commented on the word synecdoche
Ack, will I always have to keep learning? Won't I ever experience a sense of lasting satisfaction? Ok, just kidding, I guess. Kaufman was interviewed on The Colbert Report, only it seems the full episode has become rather unavailable at my destination for Colbert Nation procrastination...
December 27, 2008
seanahan commented on the word synecdoche
I joked last week about wanting to see the new movie "Metonymy New York", but none of my friends got it.
January 2, 2009
rolig commented on the word synecdoche
I love the old Judy Garland flick, Metonymy St. Louis!
January 2, 2009
Sim427 commented on the word synecdoche
Nevertheless, historical priority does not seem to me a sufficient reason to explain why the word fascism became a synecdoche, that is, a word that could be used for different totalitarian movements.
-Umberto Eco
September 21, 2018