Questions tagged [synecdoche]
The synecdoche tag has no usage guidance.
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What is the origin of short form headlines in media/the news?
Every now and then one comes across a shortened form of headlines in media, mostly the news. For example:
Study: Inflation Forcing More Americans To Choose Between Buying Groceries, Aston Martin DBS [...
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The “open-ended Irish backstop” (Brexit)
Downing Street let it be known that May’s withdrawal agreement might after all be acceptable, if only the open-ended Irish backstop could be removed. Brussels in return let it be known that Johnson’s ...
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Would 'Google' be a synecdoche or a metonymy of the internet and technology?
I want to write an opening for my essay, but I'm not sure which term to use: metonymy or synecdoche. I have a feeling that it is a synecdoche because Google is a part of the Internet, but I would like ...
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Is 'the dead' a synecdoche?
Is the phrase 'the dead' a synecdoche? In using it, the individuals are being collectively defined by the fact they are dead, rather than acknowledging their personhood. If it is not a synecdoche, is ...
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Is a country's name a metonym - and when? E.g.: "The White House" / "Washington" / ..."The U.S.?"
I'm interested in figurative language and metonymy in particular. Sometimes it seems hard to tell if a term qualifies as a metonym or would be considered linguistically "literal." One case ...
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Identifying Literary Devices ~ Synecdoche or Pun?
She would step out of the river, dry in the sun for five minutes and climb back into the car among the shocked eyeballs of her companions.
Is the emphasized phrase an example of a synecdoche or a pun?...
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Is this a metonymy or synecdoche?
In Katy Perry's song "Firework", there's a line that goes like this:
After a hurricane, comes a rainbow.
I know that "hurricane" and "rainbow" are not metaphors, nor are they symbols. I was ...
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What do you call the collective singular as a rhetorical device? (e.g. 'the Hun')
I’m trying to figure out how to refer to the rhetorical device in which one refers to a collective as an individual member of that group, e.g. ’the Hun’ for soldiers of the German Empire during the ...
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Is "planting tomatoes" a Metonymy or Synecdoche?
Planting tomatoes when one is planting seeds, appears to be a metonymy or synecdoche. Because the word “seeds” is replaced with the word “tomatoes”, a component of the plant could be a form of ...
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What does “'Avoid plastics' in commencement speeches" mean?
Today’s (May 12) New York Times carries an article written by Arthur Brooks, the president of the American Enterprise Institute under the title, “How to avoid commencement clichés”.
The author says:
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Other words for or similar to synecdoche
What size shirt are you wearing?
I'm wearing a large.
In this instance, large is a noun used in place of the understood [large] shirt. I'm trying to figure out if there is a word for "a ...
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‘Longears’, ‘Tapperbill’, and ‘Painted-wings’
I was reading The Intruder by James Reeves. I couldn't understand the meaning of the following lines
Longears helter-skelter shoots
Into his house among the roots.
At work upon the highest ...
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"Baby blues" - metonymy or synechdoche?
I understand the basic difference between metonymy and synecdoche (thanks in part to this question) but got stumped on "baby blues" as another way of saying eyes. Am I right that it is synecdoche as ...
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What is the opposite of synecdoche?
If synecdoche represents when a part of a thing or person refers to the whole, what is it called when the whole is used to refer to a part?
For example, we often hear about what "The American People ...
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Origins of “head” as a synecdoche?
When, where, why and how did the term head come to be used to describe
quantities of cattle, animals, people, and so on?
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"He rolled his toilet things into his housewife"
From C.S. Forester's Hornblower and the Hotspur:
[The naval captain] rolled his toilet things into his housewife and tied the tapes.
ODO does provide a second definition for housewife which ...
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"The England ... team" vs "The English ... team"
Why are country sports teams, for example, from England, referred to as 'The England football team' as opposed to 'The English football team'?
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What is the grammatical term for the following idiom?
When there is a group or list of specific items, its components are curiously pluralized when reciting them in one sentence.
For instance,when a person discusses the qualities of blue-chip stocks, he ...
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Is there a term for referring to an organization by its city rather than by its name?
This happens specifically often in the technology press:
There's no point trying to ascribe motives to what Redmond [instead of "Microsoft"] does.
We'll see shortly if Cupertino [instead of "...
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What is the difference between metonymy and synecdoche?
What is the difference between metonymy and synecdoche?
