synecdoche (redirected from synecdoches)

syn·ec·do·che  (s-nkd-k)

n.

A figure of speech in which a part is used 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).

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[Middle English synodoches, from Medieval Latin synodoche, alteration of Latin synecdoch, from Greek sunekdokh, from sunekdekhesthai, to take on a share of : sun-, syn- + ekdekhesthai, to understand (ek-, out of; see eghs in Indo-European roots + dekhesthai, to take; see dek- in Indo-European roots).]

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synec·dochic (snk-dkk), synec·dochi·cal (--kl) adj.

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synecdoche [sin-neck-dock-ee]

Noun

a figure of speech in which a part is substituted for a whole or a whole for a part, as in 50 head of cattle for 50 cows [Greek sunekdokhē]

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synecdoche

the use of a part for a whole or a whole for a part, the special for the general or the general for the special, as in “a Rockefeller” for a rich man or “wheels” for transportation. — synecdochic, synecdochical, adj.

See also: Rhetoric and Rhetorical Devices

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

synecdoche - substituting a more inclusive term for a less inclusive one or vice versa fireside, hearth - home symbolized as a part of the fireplace; "driven from hearth and home"; "fighting in defense of their firesides" figure of speech, trope, image, figure - language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense face - a part of a person that is used to refer to a person; "he looked out at a roomful of faces"; "when he returned to work he met many new faces"