Synecdoche
Overview
Synecdoche is a figure of speech
in which a term is used in one of the following ways:
Synecdoche is closely related to metonymy
(the figure of speech in which a term denoting one thing is used to refer to a related thing); indeed, synecdoche is sometimes considered a subclass of metonymy.
Figure of speech
A figure of speech is the use of a word or words diverging from its usual meaning. It can also be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words in it, as in idiom, metaphor, simile,...
in which a term is used in one of the following ways:
- Part of something is used to refer to the whole thing (pars pro totoPars pro totoPars pro toto is Latin for "a part for the whole" where the name of a portion of an object or concept represents the entire object or context....
), or - A thing (a "whole") is used to refer to part of it (totum pro parteTotum pro parteTotum pro parte is Latin for "the whole for a part"; it refers to a kind of synecdoche. When used in a context of language it means that something is named after something of which it is only a part...
), or - A specific class of thing is used to refer to a larger, more general class, or
- A general class of thing is used to refer to a smaller, more specific class, or
- A material is used to refer to an object composed of that material, or
- A container is used to refer to its contents.
Synecdoche is closely related to metonymy
Metonymy
Metonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept...
(the figure of speech in which a term denoting one thing is used to refer to a related thing); indeed, synecdoche is sometimes considered a subclass of metonymy.
Unanswered Questions
