Alternative spellings

• syndoche
• synechdoche

Noun

Singular synecdoche

Plural synecdoches

synecdoche (plural synecdoches)

1. (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.

fifty head of cattle — part (head) for whole (animal). a fleet of ships, fifty sail deep — part (sail) for whole (ship) the police knocked down my door — whole (the police) for part (some police officers) the cat stalks the gazelle — class (cat) for subclass (e.g., cheetah) hand me a Kleenex — subclass (brand named product) for class (all similar products) China maintains closer high-level ties with Pyongyang — country (China) for its government (Chinese government) China maintains closer high-level ties with Pyongyang — capital (Pyongyang) for its country (North Korea)

1. (rhetoric) The use of synecdoche; synecdochy.

Synonyms

• (part for the whole): pars pro toto

Hypernyms

• metonymy

Derived terms

• synecdochy
• synecdochic
• synecdochical
• synecdochically

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. It is more distantly related to other figures of speech, such as metaphor.

More rigorously, metonymy and synecdoche may be considered as sub-species of metaphor, intending metaphor as a type of conceptual substitution (as Quintilian does in Institutio oratoria Book VIII). In Lanham's Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, the three terms have somewhat restrictive definitions, arguably in tune with a certain interpretation of their etymologies from Greek:

• metaphor: changing a word from its literal meaning to one not properly applicable but analogous to it; assertion of identity rather than, as with simile, likeness.
• metonymy: substitution of cause for effect, proper name for one of its qualities, etc.
• synecdoche: substitution of a part for whole, species for genus, etc.

Use

The use of synecdoche is a common way to emphasize an important aspect of a fictional character; for example, a character might be consistently described by a single body part, such as the eyes, which come to represent the character. This is often used when the main character does not know or care about the names of the characters that he/she is referring to.

Also, sonnets and other forms of love poetry frequently use synecdoches to characterize the beloved in terms of individual body parts rather than a whole, coherent self. This practice is especially common in the Petrarchan sonnet, where the idealised beloved is often described part by part, from head to toe.