thumb|A common example of synecdoche: using the term boots to mean "[[soldiers", as in the phrase "boots on the ground".]]

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Synecdoche is a type of metonymy; it is a figure of speech that uses a term for a part of something to refer to the whole (pars pro toto), or vice versa (totum pro parte). The term is derived . Common English synecdoches include suits for businessmen, wheels for automobile, and boots for soldiers.

Definition

Synecdoche is a rhetorical trope and a kind of metonymy—a figure of speech using a term to denote one thing to refer to a related thing.

Synecdoche (and thus metonymy) is distinct from metaphor, although in the past, it was considered a sub-species of metaphor, intending metaphor as a type of conceptual substitution (as Quintilian does in Book VIII). In Lanham's Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, the three terms possess somewhat restrictive definitions in tune with their etymologies from Greek:

  • Metaphor: changing a word from its literal meaning to one not properly applicable but analogous to it; assertion of identity (A is B)—rather than likeness as with simile (A is like B);
  • Metonymy: substituting an attribute of or object associated with something for the thing itself (e.g., substituting "the crown" for "the monarch" is not a synecdoche, since "the crown" is not part of "the monarch").

Classification

Synecdoche is often used as a type of personification by attaching a human aspect to a nonhuman thing. It is used in reference to political relations, including "having a footing", to mean a country or organization is in a position to act, or "the wrong hands", to describe opposing groups, usually in the context of military power.

The two main types of synecdoche are microcosm and macrocosm. A microcosm uses a part of something to refer to the entirety. An example of this is saying "I need a hand" with a project, but needing the entire person. A macrocosm is the opposite, using the name of the entire structure of something to refer to a small part. Moreover, catching the attention of an audience with advertising is often referred to by advertisers with the synecdoche "getting eyeballs". Synecdoche is common in spoken English, especially in reference to sports. The names of cities are used as shorthand for their sports teams to describe events and their outcomes, such as "Denver won Monday's game," while accuracy would require specifying the sports team's name. He described synecdoche as "part for the whole, whole for the part, container for the contained, sign for the thing signified, material for the thing made&nbsp;... cause for the effect, effect for the cause, genus for the species, species for the genus". In addition, Burke suggests synecdoche patterns can include reversible pairs such as disease-cure. Burke proclaimed the noblest synecdoche is found in the description of "microcosm and macrocosm" since microcosm is related to macrocosm as part to the whole, and either the whole can represent the part or the part can represent the whole".