Synecdoche: Difference between revisions

'''Synecdoche''' (sə-nek-də-kē; from the Greek synekdoche which translates to "simultaneous understanding") is a literary device that utilizes a part of an object or the entire object is used to represent some part of the whole object. This trope can function in many ways as a literary device. It can allow larger groups to represent a smaller one or vice versa. It can also refer to a thing by the material it is made of or the packaging it is contained in.

There is a great deal of uncertainty regarding defining metonymy and categorizing words as metonymical.  Most definitions are vague, thereby giving the confusing implication that any word can reflect metonymy if used in the right context.  In Hugh Bredin's article “Metonymy,” he supplies a general definition for metonymy which states that “metonymy is the transfer of the name of a thing to something else that is closely associated with it - such as cause and effect, container and contained, possessor and possessed, and so on; for example, "crown" or "throne" for monarchy” (45). <ref name=Ref4/> Bredin asserts that such a definition is an “enumeration of instances” that poorly explains the exact function of metonymical words.  The one aspect that all critics agree upon in regards to metonymy is that synecdoche is it's relative.  More specifically synecdoche is a subsection of metonymy.  In order to distinguish between metonymy and synecdoche, a person must examine the relationship of the words involved.