Bruce Jackson

The daily press, the immediate media, is superb at synecdoche, at giving us a small thing that stands for a much larger thing. Reporters on the ground, embedded or otherwise, can tell us about or send us pictures of what happened in that place at that time among those people.

Public Servant

P. J. O'Rourke

Preachers at black churches are the last people left in the English-speaking world who know the schemes and tropes of classical rhetoric: parallelism, antithesis, epistrophe, synecdoche, metonymy, periphrasis, litotes - the whole bag of tricks.

American Comedian

Charlie Kaufman

It occurred to me that every work of art is a synecdoche, there's no way around it. Every creative work that someone does can only represent an aspect of the whole of something. I can't think of an exception to that.

American Screenwriter

A synecdoche often uses a significant part of something to represent the entire thing.

Part for Whole

Sometimes the whole is used for a part, especially when speaking poetically or figuratively.

Whole for Part

Synecdoches can include cultural references that may not be understood universally.

Cultural Awareness

A general synecdoche can stand for something specific, especially in a particular field or area.

Specificity in Generality

Synecdoche can make language more varied by avoiding the repetition of the same words.

Avoiding Repetition

Recognizing synecdoches is crucial for literary analysis, as they add depth to the text.

Analyzing Literature

Synecdoche can simplify complex ideas by representing them with one familiar element.

Simplifying Complexity

A synecdoche can create strong imagery and make descriptions more vivid.

Enhancing Imagery

Using synecdoche can show creativity in language by linking seemingly unrelated elements.