synecdoches
Parts representing wholes
Synecdoches is the plural of synecdoche, a figure of speech in which a part represents the whole or vice versa.
When someone counts heads in a room, they're counting people.
When the White House issues a statement, it's the administration speaking.
Hired hands are workers, and wheels can mean a car.
The device is everywhere in everyday speech, often unnoticed.
Recurring narrative device
- metonymySubstituting associated name
- substitutionExchange of one for another
- representationDepiction or likeness
- stand-inTemporary human placeholder
Piece of whole
- wholeFull and undivided
- categoryA class of things
- memberOne who belongs
- genusTaxonomic rank above species
species · container · contained · material · object · abstraction · instantiation · representative
Metrical literary composition
- proseUnversified language
- fictionImagined narrative work
- narrativeAccount of events
- imageryVivid descriptive language
symbolism · allusion · characterization · description · motif
Convincing through reasoning
- oratoryFormal eloquent discourse
- speechwritingCrafting formal spoken remarks
- emphasisStress given to something
- compressionForcing into smaller space
vividness · concreteness · memorability · eloquence · amplification · condensation · punch · impact
trope
Recurring narrative device
- metonymySubstituting associated name
- substitutionExchange of one for another
- representationDepiction or likeness
part
Piece of whole
genus · species · container · contained · material · object · abstraction · instantiation · representative · microcosm
poetry
Metrical literary composition
imagery · symbolism · allusion · characterization · description · motif
persuasion
Convincing through reasoning
- oratoryFormal eloquent discourse
- speechwritingCrafting formal spoken remarks
- emphasisStress given to something
compression · vividness · concreteness · memorability · eloquence · amplification · condensation · punch · impact
synecdochesmetaphors
Implicit comparison expressions
similes · analogies · metonymies · personifications · allegories