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Synecdoche Meaning and Examples in English/Hindi

Synecdoche Meaning

Synecdoche is a figure of speech where a portion of anything is used to represent the entire thing. Synecdoche is the use of a portion of an automobile—the wheels—to refer to the entire car. For example, if your parents purchase you a car and you mention that you just got a new set of wheels.

Synecdoche Definition

The Merriam-Webster and Collins dictionaries both define synecdoche as “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 high society for society), the species for the genus (such as a creature for a man), the genus for the species (such as boards for stage), or the name of the material for the thing made (such as boards for stage).

Synecdoche Figure of Speech Examples

A rhetorical technique known as synecdoche substitutes a term for a portion of something for the entire thing. The term “synecdoche” is defined as “a word or phrase in which a part of something is used to represent a whole, or a whole is used to represent a part of something,” in the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, and “a figure of speech by which a more comprehensive term is used for a less comprehensive or vice versa, as whole for part or part for whole,” in the Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms.

Synecdoche Pronunciation

To correctly pronounce synecdoche, say “sih-NECK-duh-key.” A synecdoche is a part that represents the whole.

Synecdoche Examples in Literature

  • “I know the voices dying with a dying fall

Beneath the music from a farther room” (‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ by T. S. Eliot)

Here, the word ‘voices’ refers to people. Voice is just one of the elements that is a characteristic of being a human.

  • “There will be time, there will be time

To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;

There will be time to murder and create,

And time for all the works and days of hands

That lift and drop a question on your plate;” (‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ by T. S. Eliot)

In this example, the words ‘faces’ and ‘hands’ are just parts of the body but used here to refer to people.

  • “‘Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,

A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark

Is by a forged process of my death

Rankly abused. ” (‘Hamlet’ by William Shakespeare)

In the above example, ‘ear’ is used to refer to all the people of Denmark.

  • “They survive, stamped upon these lifeless things, by the hand which made them.” (‘Ozymandias’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley)

Here, in this sentence, the word ‘hand’ is just a part of the sculptor who made those statues and therefore, is an example of synecdoche.

  • “Their eyes met as she sat in front of him paler than anyone in the huge ocean of faces before them.” (‘The lady or The Tiger’ by Frank R Stockton)

‘Faces’ here is a term used to refer to a lot of people and is an example of synecdoche. This is because ‘faces’ just seem to be a part of the body but used here to refer to the whole idea.

Synecdoche vs Metonymy

Due of the similarities in their roles, synecdoche and metonymy are likely to cause you confusion. See the following table to see how metonymy and synecdoche differ from one another.

Synecdoche Metonymy
A figure of speech in which a part of something is used to refer to the whole thing. A figure of speech in which a term (an object or an idea) is substituted by another term that is closely related to it.
For example:

We are planning to hire some more hands.

Here, the word ‘hands’ refers to people/employees(in this context).

For example:

It would be easier if you could give me a hand.

Here, the word ‘hand’ is substituted to mean help.

Synecdoche Meaning in Hindi

सिनेकडोचे का अर्थ

सिनेकडोचे भाषण का एक अलंकार है जहां किसी भी चीज़ के एक हिस्से का उपयोग पूरी चीज़ का प्रतिनिधित्व करने के लिए किया जाता है। सिन्कडोचे पूरी कार को संदर्भित करने के लिए ऑटोमोबाइल के एक हिस्से-पहियों-का उपयोग है। उदाहरण के लिए, यदि आपके माता-पिता आपके लिए एक कार खरीदते हैं और आप बताते हैं कि आपको हाल ही में पहियों का एक नया सेट मिला है।

सिनेकडोचे परिभाषा

मरियम-वेबस्टर और कोलिन्स शब्दकोश दोनों सिनेकडोचे को “भाषण का एक रूप” के रूप में परिभाषित करते हैं जिसके द्वारा एक भाग को संपूर्ण के लिए रखा जाता है (जैसे कि पचास जहाजों के लिए पचास पाल), एक भाग के लिए संपूर्ण (जैसे कि समाज के लिए उच्च समाज), जाति के लिए प्रजाति (जैसे मनुष्य के लिए प्राणी), प्रजाति के लिए जाति (जैसे मंच के लिए बोर्ड), या बनाई गई चीज़ के लिए सामग्री का नाम (जैसे मंच के लिए बोर्ड)।

एक अलंकारिक तकनीक जिसे सिनेकडोचे के नाम से जाना जाता है, किसी चीज़ के एक हिस्से के लिए एक शब्द को पूरी चीज़ के स्थान पर प्रतिस्थापित कर देती है। ऑक्सफ़ोर्ड लर्नर्स डिक्शनरी में शब्द “सिनेकडोचे” को “एक शब्द या वाक्यांश के रूप में परिभाषित किया गया है जिसमें किसी चीज़ के एक हिस्से का उपयोग संपूर्ण का प्रतिनिधित्व करने के लिए किया जाता है, या संपूर्ण का उपयोग किसी चीज़ के एक हिस्से का प्रतिनिधित्व करने के लिए किया जाता है,” और “का एक आंकड़ा” के रूप में परिभाषित किया गया है। भाषण जिसके द्वारा कम व्यापक के लिए अधिक व्यापक शब्द का उपयोग किया जाता है या इसके विपरीत, भाग के लिए संपूर्ण या संपूर्ण के लिए भाग का उपयोग किया जाता है,” ऑक्सफोर्ड डिक्शनरी ऑफ लिटरेरी टर्म्स में।

सिनेकडोचे का सही उच्चारण करने के लिए, “sih-NECK-duh-key” कहें। सिनेकडोचे एक ऐसा भाग है जो संपूर्ण का प्रतिनिधित्व करता है।

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FAQs

What is the opposite of synecdoche?

Synecdoche occurs when a word for one portion of anything is used to describe the entire thing, or, less frequently, when a word for the whole is used to describe a word for one component of something. When a word linked with something is used to describe the thing itself, this is referred to as "metonymy."

What is a synecdoche in literature?

Synecdoche is a figure of speech where a part of the total is represented, as in the statement "hired hands" for labourers, or, less frequently, where the whole of the whole is represented, as in the usage of the word "society" to refer to high society.

What is the synonym of synecdoche?

Adumbration, allegory, alliteration, allusion, analogue, analogy, anaphora, anticlimax, antistrophe, antithesis, aposiopesis, apostrophe, asyndeton, bathos, comparison, conceit, device, echoism, ellipsis, euphemism.

What are the two types of synecdoche?

Macrocosm: This is when a larger entity is used to refer to a small part within it. 

Microcosm: This use of synecdoche occurs when a small part of something stands in to refer to the larger whole.

What is a simple definition of synecdoche?

Synecdoche is a literary method when a part of anything is substituted for the entire (such as "worker" for "hired hand") or, less frequently, where a whole represents a component (as when society denotes "high society").