synecdoche
Other forms: synecdoches
Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which you use a part of something to stand for the whole thing. If your parents buy you a car and you say that you just got a new set of wheels, you're using synecdoche — you're using the wheels, which are part of a car, to refer to the whole car.
To correctly pronounce synecdoche, say "sih-NECK-duh-key." A synecdoche is a part that represents the whole. A photograph of a car that is completely covered in snow is a synecdoche for the burden everyone faces following a big winter storm. Synecdoche is a great literary device, especially for poets who strive to express a great deal in a single image.
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Vocabulary lists containing synecdoche
From alliteration to zeugma, this list covers the literary devices you need to know in order to understand and analyze poetry. To learn even more about poetry, explore our lists on Genre and Structure and Meter.
You'll be able to express yourself with style once you learn these rhetorical devices and tropes. This vocabulary list covers a wide range of techniques used in formal speech and writing, from alliteration to zeugma.
