synecdoche

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Besides being a pun on Schenectady [the Cotards 'hometown], synecdoche is a word that can mean "a part that represents the whole."

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Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the thing made from it (as steel for sword).

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Examples (50)

  • And then yesterday she ran a story urging us to dissect the film to inspect all of its glorious, telling parts-lecturing us, of course, on the meaning of the word "synecdoche" while using it as a framing device. —  Gawker
  • It's what Charlie Kaufman pretentiously calls a "synecdoche." —  New York Press
  • Andrew Sarris begins his admittedly more even-handed review by describing the title as "a curious play on words between Schenectady, N.Y., and synecdoche, a word never spoken aloud in formal or conversational speech." —  Bright Lights After Dark
  • Should I be ashamed to admit that I have found recourse to the word synecdoche in many conversations, several of them about the film itself? —  Bright Lights After Dark
  • Besides being a pun on Schenectady [the Cotards 'hometown], synecdoche is a word that can mean "a part that represents the whole." —  EclipseMagazine
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This word has been looked up 1443 times.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English synodoches, from Medieval Latin synodoche, alteration of Latin synecdochē, from Greek sunekdokhē, from sunekdekhesthai, to take on a share of : sun-, syn- + ekdekhesthai, to understand (ek-, out of; see eghs in Indo-European roots + dekhesthai, to take; see dek- in Indo-European roots).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French synecdoche, synecdoque = Spanish sinécdoque, sinédoque = Portuguese synecdoche = Italian sinéddoche, from Latin synecdoche, from Greek συνεκδοχή, an understanding one with another, the putting of the whole for a part, etc., from συνεκδέχεσ, σ1θαι, join in receiving, from σύν, together, + ἐκδέχεσθαι, take from, accept, receive, from ἐκ, out, + δέχεσθαι take, accept.
 

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/sɪˈnɛkdəki/
by American Heritage
by Parker Smith

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