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Synecdoche
• A ccaategor
oryy and the it
items
ems in those ccaategories: "America took
DEFINITION home gold" is a whole-to-part synecdoche in which the larger
category of "America" is used to stand in only for American
What is synecdoche? Here’s a quick and simple definition:
olympians. This type of synecdoche can also be part-to-whole.
For example, "The citizens were all put to the sword" is a
Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which, most often, a part
synecdoche in which the term "sword" stands in for the entire
of something is used to refer to its whole. For example, "The
category of weapons used to kill.
captain commands one hundred sails" is a synecdoche that
uses "sails" to refer to ships—ships being the thing of which
a sail is a part. A less common form of synecdoche occurs Synec
Synecdoche
doche vs. Me
Mettonymy
when a whole is used to refer to a part. An example of this is Synecdoche is related to (and commonly confused with) metonymy.
when the word "mortals" is used to mean While these two figures of speech are similar, they are not the same.
humans—"mortals" technically includes all animals and Both metonymy and synecdoche do create a relationship in which
plants (anything that dies), so using "mortals" to mean one thing or idea stands in for another, but the specifics of these
humans is a synecdoche that uses a category to stand in for relationships are different:
one of its subsets.
• In synec
synecdoche
doche, the relationship is one of either part-to-whole or
Some additional key details about synecdoche: whole-to-part.
• In me onymy, the relationship between the two things is not part-
mettonymy
• Generations of writers have used synecdoche in both poetry and
to-whole or whole-to-part, but is rather one of being closely
prose.
conceptually related. For example, the phrase "The pen is
• Synecdoche is a device used in many idioms, colloquial mightier than the sword" contains two metonymies: one in which
expressions, and slang terms. "pen" stands in for writing, and another in which "sword" stands
• One common form of synecdoche uses a body part (hand, heart, in for physical power. A pen is not a part of writing, and a sword is
head, eyes, etc.) to stand in for an entire person. not part of physical power—each thing is related to the concept it
evokes.
Ho
Howw tto
o Pr
Pronounc
onouncee Synec
Synecdoche
doche
Some people actually consider synecdoche to be a subset of
Here's how to pronounce synecdoche: sih-nek
nek-duh-kee
metonymy, since to be a part of something is, by definition, to be
closely related to that thing. Other people believe that the two terms
Wholes, P
Part
arts,
s, and Synec
Synecdoche
doche are completely distinct—that metonymy can only occur when it
A synecdoche occurs when a part stands in for a whole, or a whole proposes a relationship between two things that are not part of one
stands in for a part. To recognize synecdoche it's helpful to another, and that synecdoche can never be simultaneously
understand that there are different sorts of wholes and parts. The metonymy. There's no definitive consensus on which of these two
most common types of wholes and parts are: ways of seeing metonymy and synecdoche is correct, so you should
just know that the debate exists.
• A physic
physical
al sstruc
tructur
turee and it
itss p
part
arts:
s: "All hands on deck!" is a part-
to-whole synecdoche of this sort because "hands" stand in for the Fuzziness Be
Betw
tween
een Synec
Synecdoche
doche and Me
Mettonymy
sailors of which they are physically a part.
In addition, in some cases it can be difficult to distinguish whether
• An objec
objectt and the ma
matterial it is made of: In this sort of two things are related-but-separate or are a part of one another. For
synecdoche, the whole can be thought of as the thing's example, in the phrase "he asked for her hand in marriage," a
essence—what the thing truly is—while the part is its matter, the woman's hand stands in for her whole person (her suitor wants to
physical material that makes it up but which doesn't define that marry her, not just her hand, and her hand is a part of her body). Yet,
full essence. "Are you paying with plastic?" is a synecdoche in because exchanging rings is a traditional part of marriage, it can be
which plastic, a material, stands in for a credit card, which, as a argued that the woman's hand is symbolically related to marriage. So
monetary device, is much more than its material. is the phrase "he asked for her hand in marriage" a synecdoche, or is
• A ccont
ontainer
ainer and wha
whatt it ccont
ontains:
ains: "Can I buy you a glass?" refers it both a synecdoche and a metonymy? To be honest, there's no
not to the glass itself; it is a synecdoche in which "glass" refers to definitive right answer. But if you know enough to be able to explain
the drink inside it. why someone might claim it's either synecdoche, or metonymy, or
both, you almost certainly know enough about synecdoche.

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By describing her people as body parts rather than as whole people,

EX
EXAMPLES
AMPLES Baby Suggs also emphasizes how the white people she describes
dehumanize black people.
Synecdoche appears often in everyday speech, often as a part of
idioms that have become so well known that few people ever stop to
Synecdoche in Macbe
Synecdoche Macbeth
th by William Shak
Shakespe
espear
aree
think about the fact that these expressions don't mean what they
literally say. Synecdoche also commonly appears in all sorts of In Act 4, Scene 3 of Shakespeare's Macbeth, an angry Macbeth kicks
literature, from prose to poetry. out a servant by saying:

Take thy face hence.

Synec
Synecdoche
doche E
Exxamples in Idioms and E
Evver
eryyday
Languag
Languagee Here, "thy face" stands in for "you." Macbeth is simply telling the
Synecdoche is used in many common idioms, and it has become servant to leave, but his use of synecdoche makes the tone of his
ingrained in the way we use language in our day-to-day lives. The command more harsh and insulting, showing the audience how
meaning of some of the following examples may seem so obvious or angry he really is.
literal that you may be surprised to discover that each one is, in fact, a
synecdoche: Synec
Synecdoche
doche in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel
Coleridg
Coleridgee
• "Nic
"Nicee wheels!" A synecdoche in which "wheels" stand in for the
car that they are a part of. In "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," Samuel Coleridge uses
synecdoche in the lines:
• "Hurr
"Hurryy up
up,, gr
gray
ay be
bear
ard!"
d!" A not very polite synecdoche, in which an
old man's "gray beard" stands in for his whole being. The western wave was all a-flame.
• "Wha
"What't'ss the he
head
ad ccount
ount?"
?" The person asking this question is The day was well nigh done!
interested not just in the number of heads, but rather in the Almost upon the western wave
number of people to whom the heads belong. Rested the broad bright Sun.
• "Denv
"Denverer w
won
on 4-2" A whole-to-part synecdoche in which the name
Here, "wave" stands in for the whole ocean (or at least the part of the
of the entire city of Denver is used to mean one of its sports
ocean—larger than a wave—that is relevant to the text). So when the
teams.
Ancient Mariner says "the western wave," he is referring to the ocean
• "The br
brains
ains helped me with my homework." A part-to-whole to the west, extending to the western horizon.
synecdoche in which smart students are referred to as
"brains"—the brain being, of course, only one part of them.
Synec
Synecdoche
doche in "I he
hear
ard
d a Fly buzz
buzz—when
—when I died" b
byy Emily Dickinson
• Many people use brand names to refer to generic-brand products;
In the second stanza of the poem, Emily Dickinson writes:
this is a type of synecdoche because the brand-name product is
just one subset of a broader category. So if you call all facial The Eyes around—had wrung them dry—
tissues "Kleene
"Kleenexx," call all adhesive bandages "Band-aids,
"Band-aids,"" or And Breaths were gathering firm
drink "Cok
"Coke"e" whenever you're having a soft drink, you're using a For that last Onset—when the King
synecdoche. Be witnessed—in the Room—

Synec
Synecdoche
doche E
Exxamples in Lit
Liter
eraatur
turee Here, "eyes" stand in for people. Dickinson's use of synecdoche
emphasizes that the people in the room are watching the speaker,
Synecdoche is frequently used in both poetry and prose.
but it also serves a more technical purpose. In "I heard a Fly
buzz—when I died" each stanza is four lines long. The first and third
Synecdoche in Belo
Synecdoche Belovved by T
Toni
oni Morrison lines of each stanza are eight syllables long, and the second and
In Toni Morrison's novel Beloved, the character Baby Suggs employs fourth lines are six syllables long (a metrical pattern known as
synecdoche in a sermon: common meter). By using synecdoche, Dickinson is able to maintain
the rhythm of the poem while communicating, in just a few words,
Yonder they do not love your flesh. They despise it. They that the people surrounding the speaker are watching her and have
don't love your eyes; they'd just as soon pick em out. No been weeping.
more do they love the skin on your back.

In this context, "your flesh," "your eyes," and "the skin on your back,"
all stand in for "you." Baby Suggs is speaking of the hostility and
violence that her community of freed slaves faces from white people.

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WHY WRITER
WRITERSSU
USE
SE IT OTHER RESOURCES
Synecdoche is a versatile literary device, and writers use synecdoche • The Dictionary Definition of Synecdoche: The editor's note
for many reasons. Often synecdoches can elevate language, making a includes information on the etymology of synecdoche (spoiler:
sentence or phrase sound more interesting or more poetic. the term comes from an ancient Greek word meaning
Synecdoches can also help the writer create a strong voice for a "interpretation").
character or for a narrator. In the example from Macbeth, for example,
• This website gives an overview of the Four Master Tropes of
Shakespeare uses the synecdoche "Take thy face hence" rather than
rhetoric, Kenneth Burke's famous literary theory of figures of
having Macbeth simply say "You can go now," because the former is
speech. Synecdoche and metonymy are two of the four devices
far more revealing of Macbeth's haughty, violent character at this
that Burke identifies as "Master Tropes," and the page offers
point in the play. Since synecdoche often appears in slang, idioms,
explanations for all four devices.
and colloquialisms, writers also use synecdoche in dialogue to make
characters sound more like real people. • For the film buffs out there, read The Guardian's review of the
2009 film Synecdoche, New York, which uses the idea of
The work of poets like Dickinson and Coleridge also shows how
synecdoche to explore the part-to-whole relationship between art
writers use synecdoche to exchange one word or phrase for another,
and reality. The film, whose title puns on the real-life town
making it a useful device for preserving rhythm and rhyme within
Schenectady, New York, tells the story of a theatre director whose
poetic verse. Similarly, a writer could use synecdoche to enhance the
"huge, mad, pasteboard world stands for the real world, is part of
sound of writing. For example, if you wanted to open a dog spa, the
it, is superimposed on to it, and finally melts into it."
alliterative and synecdochic "Pampered Paws" would be a much
better name than "Pampered Dogs."
Perhaps most important, synecdoche allows writers to pack a lot of HO
HOWWT
TO
O CITE
meaning into just a word or two. In "I heard a fly buzz—when I died,"
Emily Dickson's decision to use "eyes" to represent people draws our
ML
MLAA
attention to the things that their eyes are doing: weeping and
watching. We can infer that these people feel powerless because, as Frisella, Emily. "Synecdoche." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 5 May 2017.
the speaker dies, all they can do is weep and watch. The people Web. 31 Aug 2017.
themselves, feel, in a way, like they are nothing more than eyes. By
using synecdoche, Dickinson doesn't need to tell us these details Chic
Chicag
ago
o Manual
outright, which allows her to maintain the poem's sparse, fragmented Frisella, Emily. "Synecdoche." LitCharts LLC, May 5, 2017. Retrieved
style. August 31, 2017. http://www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-
In any context, synecdoche is a way to layer multiple meanings onto a terms/synecdoche.
single word or phrase. Synecdoche helps writers make their work
more complex, nuanced, and meaningful.

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