synecdoche
noun
syn·ec·do·che
sə-ˈnek-də-(ˌ)kē 
: a figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole (such as fifty sail for fifty ships), the whole for a part (such as society for high society), the species for the genus (such as cutthroat for assassin), the genus for the species (such as a creature for a man), or the name of the material for the thing made (such as boards for stage)
Examples of synecdoche in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
On the album, Beyoncé wants to make Beyoncé the synecdoche for an American.
—
Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 1 Apr. 2024
And similarly, the synecdoche is just a larger focus of a much bigger and more global issue.
—Hazlitt, 25 May 2023
The synecdoche and the implication were Glaser’s rhetoric.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2023
The images seen in many outlets, especially newspapers, still follow most of the rules of discretion and synecdoche that have become commonplace in war photography: Faces are often obscured or hidden, a hand or foot substitutes for the whole of the body.
—Washington Post, 8 Apr. 2022
Even if the flavors and textures of khoresht-e hulu are not all there is to Persian heritage, a traditional dish is a synecdoche for the culture.
—Jonathon Keats, Forbes, 27 June 2022
As a synecdoche for the tragedy of our historical moment, consider a news item about the murder of nineteen schoolchildren in Uvalde, Texas.
—Michael Robbins, Harper’s Magazine , 9 Nov. 2022
This freedom was evoked with the Abstract Expressionist brushstrokes of Pollock and Franz Kline, whose art became a synecdoche for unfettered personal expression and for individualism more broadly.
—Jonathon Keats, Forbes, 1 Oct. 2021
The synecdoche soon wore down, however, and other words came into view.
—Ishion Hutchinson, The New York Review of Books, 19 Nov. 2020
Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 1 Apr. 2024
And similarly, the synecdoche is just a larger focus of a much bigger and more global issue.
—Hazlitt, 25 May 2023
The synecdoche and the implication were Glaser’s rhetoric.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2023
The images seen in many outlets, especially newspapers, still follow most of the rules of discretion and synecdoche that have become commonplace in war photography: Faces are often obscured or hidden, a hand or foot substitutes for the whole of the body.
—Washington Post, 8 Apr. 2022
Even if the flavors and textures of khoresht-e hulu are not all there is to Persian heritage, a traditional dish is a synecdoche for the culture.
—Jonathon Keats, Forbes, 27 June 2022
As a synecdoche for the tragedy of our historical moment, consider a news item about the murder of nineteen schoolchildren in Uvalde, Texas.
—Michael Robbins, Harper’s Magazine , 9 Nov. 2022
This freedom was evoked with the Abstract Expressionist brushstrokes of Pollock and Franz Kline, whose art became a synecdoche for unfettered personal expression and for individualism more broadly.
—Jonathon Keats, Forbes, 1 Oct. 2021
The synecdoche soon wore down, however, and other words came into view.
—Ishion Hutchinson, The New York Review of Books, 19 Nov. 2020
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'synecdoche.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Synecdoche.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/synecdoche. Accessed 3 Jun. 2024.
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