Metonymy vs. Synecdoche

Metonymynoun

The use of a single characteristic or part of an object, concept or phenomenon to identify the entire object, concept, phenomenon or a related object.

Metonymynoun

(countable) A metonym.

Metonymynoun

A trope in which one word is put for another that suggests it; as, we say, a man keeps a good table instead of good provisions; we read Virgil, that is, his poems; a man has a warm heart, that is, warm affections; a city dweller has no wheels, that is, no automobile.

Metonymynoun

substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself (as in `they counted heads')

Metonymy

Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept.

Synecdochenoun

(figure of speech) A figure of speech that uses the name of a part of something to represent the whole, or the whole to represent a part.

Synecdochenoun

(rhetoric) The use of this figure of speech.

Synecdochenoun

A figure or trope by which a part of a thing is put for the whole (as, fifty sail for fifty ships), or the whole for a part (as, the smiling year for spring), the species for the genus (as, cutthroat for assassin), the genus for the species (as, a creature for a man), the name of the material for the thing made, etc.

Synecdochenoun

substituting a more inclusive term for a less inclusive one or vice versa

Synecdoche

A synecdoche ( sin-NEK-də-kee, from Greek συνεκδοχή, synekdochē, 'simultaneous understanding') is a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something refers to the whole of something or vice versa.A synecdoche is a class of metonymy, often by means of either mentioning a part for the whole or conversely the whole for one of its parts. Examples from common English expressions include (for ), and (for ) (pars pro toto).