Encyclopedia > Synecdoche

  Article Content

Synecdoche

Synecdoche is a kind of metonymy in which part of something is used for the whole.

Some common examples of synecdoche are "hands" to refer to workers, "head" to refer to cattle, "threads" to refer to clothing and "mouths to feed" to refer to hungry people.

Synecdoche, as well as other forms of metonymy, is one of the most common ways to characterize a fictional character. Frequently, someone will be consistently described by a single body part or feature, such as the eyes, which comes to represent their person.

Also, sonnets and other forms of erotic love poetry frequently use synecdoches to characterize the beloved in terms of individual body parts rather than a whole, coherent self.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
East Islip, New York

... located in Suffolk County, New York. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 14,078. Geography East Islip is located at 40°43'55" North, ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 36.4 ms