Synecdoche (pronounced sih-NEK-duh-kee) is a figure of speech in which a part of something stands for the whole, or the whole for a part. “All hands on deck” calls for every sailor, not just their hands; “England won the toss” means the England team, not the country. Merriam-Webster's definition adds three more kinds: a species for its genus, a genus for its species, and a material for the thing made from it.
The 42 everyday examples below are sorted by kind. Some sit on the line with metonymy, so if you need one for an essay, check it against the part-to-whole test in the comparison section. For the wider family of figures, see the guide to literary devices.
The five kinds of synecdoche
| Kind | Example | Stands for |
|---|---|---|
| KindPart for the whole | Examplefifty sail | Stands forfifty ships |
| KindWhole for a part | Examplesociety | Stands forhigh society |
| KindSpecies for the genus (specific for general) | Examplea cutthroat | Stands forany assassin |
| KindGenus for the species (general for specific) | Examplea creature | Stands fora person |
| KindMaterial for the thing made of it | Examplethe boards | Stands forthe stage |
The first two are the ones most people mean by synecdoche, and they have Latin names: pars pro toto, “a part for the whole,” and totum pro parte, “the whole for a part.” The other three swap a category for one of its members, or the other way around, or name a thing by what it is made of.
Everyday synecdoche examples
Most synecdoche is so ordinary that nobody notices it. These are grouped by kind and numbered straight through.
Part for the whole
- All hands on deck — every sailor aboard, or everyone on a team.
- Hired hands — farm or ranch workers, valued for their labor.
- Boots on the ground — soldiers deployed in person, not air power.
- Nice wheels — a car.
- A roof over your head — a home.
- Mouths to feed — dependents, especially children.
- New faces — newcomers to a team or a town.
- Fifty head of cattle — fifty animals, counted by heads.
- Fifty sail — fifty ships, an old naval usage.
- Eyes on the street — people watching what goes on.
- A fresh pair of legs — a substitute player.
- A village of 300 souls — 300 people.
- The brains of the operation — the person who plans it.
- Bring some muscle — bring strong people, usually to intimidate.
Whole for a part
- England won the toss — the England team, or its captain.
- Brazil won the World Cup — Brazil's national team.
- The police are at the door — two officers.
- The world is watching — a great many people, not all of them.
- Society disapproved — fashionable society, a small group.
- The school called — someone in the school office.
Specific for general
- Our daily bread — food, or a living.
- Earning some bread — earning money.
- A cutthroat — any murderer, whatever the method.
- Pass me a Kleenex — any tissue.
- A Band-Aid — any adhesive bandage, whatever the brand.
- Google it — search for it, on any search engine.
Brand names stretched to cover a whole category, like the last three, are often listed as synecdoche of this kind.
General for specific
- The poor creature — a person, seen with pity.
- The vessel — a particular ship.
- Drop your weapon — the gun in someone's hand.
- Get that animal off the sofa — the dog.
- My machine crashed — my computer.
Material for the thing
- Tread the boards — act on the stage.
- Cold steel — a sword or knife.
- Polish the silver — the cutlery and serving dishes.
- Raise a glass — a drinking glass, named for its material. The drink inside makes this one part metonymy too.
- A canvas — a painting.
- Pay with plastic — a credit or debit card.
- Tickle the ivories — play the piano keys.
- She took gold — a gold medal.
- Filled with lead — shot with bullets.
- Clapped in irons — put in shackles.
- Nice threads — clothes.
Synecdoche in literature
Poets use synecdoche to point the reader at the part that matters. Each example below names a part on purpose, and the choice of part carries the meaning.
Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;
Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway'd,
Or wak'd to ecstasy the living lyre.
The villagers in the churchyard are reduced to a heart and a pair of hands, and that is the point: passion and skill, the two things that might have made them a poet or a ruler, if they had ever had the chance.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
“Eyes” stand for every future reader. The part that reads is the part that keeps the poem, and the beloved, alive.
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
Antony asks for ears, meaning attention. Some handbooks file this under metonymy, since attention is not literally a part of the body; either way, the plain request becomes physical and polite at once.
Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!
A “hand” is a worker, and a “tight-fisted” one keeps his hand closed around his money. Dickens builds a whole character out of a part of the body.
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
“The Assyrian” is a whole invading army, named as a single man. The singular makes the attack sound like one predator falling on one flock. The label depends on the reading: if “the Assyrian” is any one soldier standing for all of them, it is synecdoche; if it is the king, Sennacherib, standing for the army he leads, it is closer to metonymy.
Three more that are quoted often:
- “Give us this day our daily bread,” from the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:11 in the King James Bible, 1611): bread for all the food, and the living, a person needs.
- “Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,” from Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus: Helen of Troy reduced to her face. The rhetorical devices list covers it.
- “I should have been a pair of ragged claws,” from T. S. Eliot's “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1915): a crab reduced to its claws, and a man who wishes he could be.
Synecdoche vs metonymy
Both figures name one thing to mean another. The difference is the relationship between the two, and one test settles most cases: can you say the word names a part of the thing meant?
- Twenty hands walked off the line at noon. Is a hand part of a worker? Yes, so this is synecdoche: a part for the whole.
- City Hall called the strike regrettable. Is City Hall part of the mayor and her staff? No. It is the building where they work, associated with them but not part of them, so this is metonymy.
- In synecdoche the word names a part of the thing meant, the whole it belongs to, or a kind of it. Wheels are part of a car.
- In metonymy the word names something associated with the thing meant, but not part of it. A crown is not part of a king; “the crown” means the monarch because the two go together.
| Phrase | Device | Why |
|---|---|---|
| PhraseAll hands on deck | DeviceSynecdoche | WhyHands are part of the sailors |
| PhraseThe crown | DeviceMetonymy | WhyA crown is worn by a monarch, not part of one |
| PhraseNice wheels | DeviceSynecdoche | WhyWheels are part of the car |
| PhraseWashington announced | DeviceMetonymy | WhyA city stands for the government located in it |
| PhraseBrazil won | DeviceSynecdoche | WhyThe team is part of the country |
| PhraseThe press | DeviceMetonymy | WhyA printing press stands for the journalists who once used it |
| PhrasePay with plastic | DeviceSynecdoche | WhyThe card is made of plastic |
| PhraseThe pen is mightier than the sword | DeviceMetonymy | WhyTools stand for writing and for force |
A quick test: if you can say “X is part of Y,” “X is a kind of Y” or “Y is made of X,” it is synecdoche. If the best you can say is “X goes with Y,” it is metonymy. Some cases sit on the line. Are “boots on the ground” part of a soldier, or only something soldiers wear? Handbooks disagree, and many treat synecdoche as a kind of metonymy anyway, so in an essay it is enough to name the figure and explain the relationship.
Synecdoche is also different from metaphor. A metaphor compares two unlike things (“the city is a beehive”). Synecdoche makes no comparison: the hands really are part of the workers. The analogy vs metaphor guide covers the comparing figures.
How to pronounce synecdoche
Say it sih-NEK-duh-kee: four syllables, with the stress on the second. Merriam-Webster writes it sə-ˈnek-də-(ˌ)kē. The final “e” is pronounced, as in “catastrophe.”
The word came into English through Latin from the Greek synekdochē, built from syn-, “together,” and ekdochē, “sense” or “interpretation,” from a verb meaning “to receive” or “to understand.” A common gloss is “simultaneous understanding”: you take in the part and understand the whole along with it. Merriam-Webster dates the first known English use to the 15th century. The plural is “synecdoches.”
Using synecdoche in your writing
- Pick the part that carries your point. “Hands” makes workers into labor, “mouths” makes them into need, “faces” makes them into strangers. The same thirty people read differently each time.
- Use it to characterize. A narrator who calls her boss “the Beard” has told you how she sees him. Describing a person by one part, like Gray's heart and hands, works the same way in fiction.
- Keep the whole recoverable. The reader should know at once what the part stands for. If they have to stop and work it out, use the plain noun.
- Watch the worn ones. “Boots on the ground” and “all hands on deck” are clear but tired, and in a news story “boots on the ground” can also blur what is happening, which makes it a euphemism as well.
Synecdoche also repeats itself in a long draft: the same “hands” and “faces” in every crowd scene. To check, ask the Strokes Assistant to list each phrase in a chapter where a part stands for a whole, with the sentence it sits in.
By six the kitchen had forty hands and not one of them was listening. Marisol counted heads at the pass, found two missing and sent the new face from Tuesday out for more ice.
Hands, heads and a face: the cooks are what the chef needs from them at that moment, labor, a headcount and an errand runner.
Practice: synecdoche, metonymy or neither?
- The factory took on twenty new hands this spring.
- Hollywood loves a sequel.
- He finally bought himself some new wheels.
- The city is a beehive at rush hour.
- Canada sent its best skaters to the final.
- The White House declined to comment.
- Synecdoche, part for whole: hands are part of the workers.
- Metonymy: Hollywood is a place, not part of the film industry, and stands for the studios based there.
- Synecdoche, part for whole: wheels are part of the car.
- Neither. It is a metaphor, comparing the city to something it is not.
- Synecdoche, whole for part: the skaters are part of Canada, and the country stands for them.
- Metonymy: the building stands for the president's staff who work in it, and a building isn't part of them.
Frequently asked questions
Is “all hands on deck” a synecdoche?
Yes. Hands are part of the sailors, so naming the hands to mean the whole crew is synecdoche of the part-for-whole kind. The phrase also stresses what the captain needs from the crew at that moment, which is work. Used for any all-out effort, as in an office, it is the same figure extended.
Is synecdoche a type of metaphor?
No. A metaphor compares two different things, such as calling a busy city a beehive. Synecdoche makes no comparison: the part it names really belongs to the whole, as hands belong to workers. Both are figures of speech, and they can appear in the same sentence.
Is calling a tissue a Kleenex synecdoche?
It is often listed as synecdoche of the specific-for-general kind: one brand stands for every tissue. It is also called a genericized trademark, and because synecdoche is often treated as a kind of metonymy, you may see it under either label. In an essay, either can work if you name the figure and explain the relationship between the brand and the category.
