Skip to content
Vinony
English
EnglishBahasa IndonesiaDeutschEspañolFrançaisItalianoNederlandsPolskiPortuguêsSvenskaTürkçeРусскийالعربيةفارسیहिन्दीไทย한국어中文日本語
synecdoche

File:Bundeswehr-Kampfstiefel_Modell_2007_DMS_-_2.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ190068· pop 61· linked from 312 articles

synecdoche

Sign in to save

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

AI overview

Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part of something represents the whole thing, or vice versa—like using "boots" to mean "soldiers." It matters because it's a common way people communicate more vividly and efficiently, allowing a single concrete detail to stand in for a larger concept.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Described at

synecdoche

rhetoric.byu.edu →

Link to a page describing this subject · 2,773 chars · not written by Vinony

Wikidata facts

Instance of
stylistic device
Subclass of
figure of speech
Show 1 more fact
described at URL
rhetoric.byu.edu/Figures/S/synecdoche.htm
Sources (8)

via Wikidata · CC0

~7 min read

Encyclopedic overview

13 sections
Contents
  • Definition
  • Classification
  • Examples
  • Part referring to whole ''(pars pro toto)''
  • General class name that denotes a specific member of that or an associated class
  • Specific class name referring to general set of associated things{{Dubious|reason=these are metonyms|date=March 2025}}
  • Referring to material actually or supposedly used to make something
  • Container refers to its contents
  • See also
  • Notes
  • References
  • Further reading
  • External links

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

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.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “synecdoche” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (3)

Available in 60 languages

Show 41 more

via Wikidata sitelinks · CC0