synecdoche

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English [edit]

WOTD – 26 September 2006    
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Alternative forms [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Latin synecdoche, from Ancient Greek συνεκδοχή (sunekdokhe, “receiving together”).

Pronunciation [edit]

  • IPA: /sɪˈnɛkdəki/ or /sɪ'nɛkdoʊki/, X-SAMPA: /sI"nEkd@ki/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)

Noun [edit]

synecdoche (plural synecdoches)

Examples

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) and capital (Pyongyang) for its country (North Korea)
  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.
    • 2002, Christopher Hitchens, "Martin Amis: Lightness at Midnight", The Atlantic, Sep 2002:
      "Holocaust" can become a tired syndecdoche for war crimes in general.
  2. (rhetoric) The use of synecdoche; synecdochy.

Synonyms [edit]

Hypernyms [edit]

Derived terms [edit]

Related terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

certain figure of speech

See also [edit]

Dutch [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

  • IPA: /sinɛkˈdoːxə/

Etymology [edit]

From Latin synecdoche, from Ancient Greek συνεκδοχή (sunekdokhe, “receiving together”).

Noun [edit]

synecdoche f (plural synecdoches, diminutive synecdochetje)

  1. (literature) synecdoche

See also [edit]

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