Synecdoche

Synecdoche is trope—a word or phrase from the Ancient Greek word for “turn”—that represents a thing or concept in terms of another, typically substituting a part for the whole or whole for the part. From the Greek word synekdoche, meaning “receiving together,” synecdoche operates through a connection or relationship in which the part represents the whole (pars pro toto) or the whole for the part (totum pro parte). For example, “All hands on deck” or “Brazil won the World Cup” are both synecdoche. “Hands” and “deck” are both representative parts of the sailors’ bodies and the ship, respectively, whereas “Brazil” constitutes the whole of the nation that stands in for the players on the national soccer team. A synecdoche requires an intrinsic relationship ...