Synecdoche
Pronounced sih-NEK-duh-kee.
Synecdoche: A figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole, or the whole for a part.
Synecdoche zooms the reader in on the one detail that matters - the hired hands, the wheels, the boots on the ground - and lets that detail carry the whole.
Synecdoche examples
"All hands on deck."
— common usage
"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears."
— Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
"She finally bought her own set of wheels."
— common usage
"In Ozymandias, 'the hand that mocked them' stands in for the whole vanished sculptor."
— Ozymandias, Percy Bysshe Shelley
Spot the Synecdoche
Score: 0/0A figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole, or the whole for a part.
"All hands on deck."
Which work is this from?
Explore every literary device in the poetic devices hub.
Synecdoche: common questions
What is synecdoche in literature?
A figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole, or the whole for a part. Synecdoche zooms the reader in on the one detail that matters - the hired hands, the wheels, the boots on the ground - and lets that detail carry the whole.
What is an example of synecdoche?
A classic example is "All hands on deck." (common usage).
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