Definition and Example of Synecdoche – Literary Terms

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Definition and Examples of Synecdoche – Literary Terms  

Synecdoche:

A FIGURE OF SPEECH in which a part of something stands for the whole thing. In the expression “I've got wheels,' wheels stands for the whole vehicle, usually an automobile.

Synecdoche from Oxford  Dictionary:

synecdoche [si-nek-daki], a common FIGURE OF SPEECH (or TROPE) by which something is referred to indirectly, either by naming only some part or constituent of it (e.g. 'hands' for manual laborers) or less often by naming some more comprehensive entity of which it is a part  (e.g. 'the law' for a police officer). Usually regarded as a special kind of  METONYMY, synecdoche occurs frequently in political journalism (e.g. 'Moscow' for the Russian government) and sports commentary (e.g.  'Liverpool' for one of that city's football teams), but also has literary uses like Dickens's habitual play with bodily parts: the character of Mrs. Merdle in Little Dorrit is referred to as 'the Bosom'. Adjective: synecdochic

Synecdoche from Penguin Dictionary:

(Gk 'taking up together').

A figure of speech in which the part stands for the whole, and thus something else is understood within the thing mentioned. For example: in 'Give us this day our daily bread', 'bread' stands for the meals taken each day. In these  lines from Thomas Campbell's Ye Mariners of England, 'oak'  represents the warships as well as the material from which they are  made:  

With thunders from her native oak,  

She quells the flood below.  

Synecdoche is common in everyday speech. In 'Chelsea won the match', Chelsea stands for the Chelsea Football Team. 

See also  

ANTONOMASIA; 

METALEPSIS; 

METONYMY.  

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

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