Synecdoche is a literary device in which a part of something represents the whole.
Synecdoche may also use larger groups to refer to smaller groups. It may also call a thing by the name of the material it is made of or it may refer to a thing in a container or packing by the name of that container or packing.
Synecdoche is often misidentified as metonymy (another literary device). Both may resemble each other to some extent but they are not the same. Synecdoche refers to the whole of a thing by the name of any one of its parts. For example, calling a car “wheels” is a synecdoche because a part of a car “wheels” stands for the whole car.
However, in metonymy, the word we use to describe another thing is closely linked to that particular thing, but is not necessarily a part of it. For example, “crown” that refers to power or authority is a metonymy used to replace the word “king” or “queen.”
Examples of Synecdoche:
The word “bread” refers to food or money as in “Writing is my bread and butter” or “sole breadwinner.”
The phrase “gray beard” refers to an old man.
The word “sails” refers to a whole ship.
The word “suits” refers to businessmen.
The word “boots” usually refers to soldiers.
The term “coke” is a common synecdoche for all carbonated drinks.
The word “glasses” refers to spectacles.
“Coppers” often refers to coins.
Literary Examples of Synecdoche:
Coleridge employs synecdoche in his poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner":
The western wave was all a-flame.
The day was well was nigh done!
Almost upon the western wave [ = the ocean]
Rested the broad bright Sun.
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand [ = the sculptor] that mocked them.
Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Sharer":
At midnight I went on deck, and to my mate’s great surprise put the ship round on the other tack. His terrible whiskers [ = the whole face of the narrator's mate] flitted round me in silent criticism.
Jonathan Swift's "The Description of the Morning":
Prepar’d to scrub the entry and the stairs.
The youth with broomy stumps [ = the whole broom] began to trace.
The use of synecdoche helps writers to achieve brevity. For instance, saying “Soldiers were equipped with steel” is more concise than saying “The soldiers were equipped with swords, knives, daggers, arrows etc.”