Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Obsolete spelling of synecdoche.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • But, after S. Austin, the first day is taken by synechdoche, that is that the last part of the day is taken which dureth from Easter unto the utas of Whitsuntide, like as holy Church hath ordained.

    The Golden Legend, vol. 1 1230-1298 1900

  • From a lowly "single point," Cobbett proceeded outward by a kind of synechdoche through "every little wheel, peg and wire in the immense machine," to an overarching system of paper money and its manipulation in the Pitt system of finance.

    William Cobbett and the Politics of System 1997

  • Do we, like Gagnon, reduce it to one individual, and then, by a dubious synechdoche, use it to build walls around the First Nations as a whole?

    Archive 2009-06-01 2009

  • Likewise, the jug at the bottom of the lake displaces water — 8 lbs of water replaces with 16 pounds of sand. (synechdoche again)

    Matthew Yglesias » Wonks and Teachers 2009

  • Ask them for words they like (and come prepared with some examples, like gossamer, gloaming, synechdoche, velvet, apricot).

    Hive Mind alert! kateelliott 2009

  • I say that I do, because missing my mother is as good a synechdoche for what I do feel as anything else.

    pung, kong, chow 2009

  • I say that I do, because missing my mother is as good a synechdoche for what I do feel as anything else.

    Yatima » 2009 » January 2009

  • The Cape is a synechdoche, a metaphor in which the part stands for the whole.

    NBC set to roll out more caped crusader television? | Major Spoilers - Comic Book Reviews and News 2009

  • Perhaps one has to seize upon a particularly egregious instance of it and make it a symbol, or synechdoche, of the wider phenomenon.

    Gordon Brown, Charlie Whelan and Me 2009

  • Perhaps one has to seize upon a particularly egregious instance of it and make it a symbol, or synechdoche, of the wider phenomenon.

    Protest and martyrdom 2009

Comments

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  • I always thought this was spelled synecdoche.

    April 22, 2008

  • So did I.

    April 22, 2008

  • Apparently, this is a variant spelling (at least according to the OED).

    April 22, 2008

  • This is not a variant spelling—that is, not one you could use if you chose to and be correct. The last non-standard spelling the OED records is this one, in 1612: 'By these two blessings (to wit) the sunne & raine meaning al other earthly benefits whatsoever, by the figure synechdoche.' If you write 'al', or 'sunne', or 'raine', by all means write 'synechdoche', but don't expect to get it by living proof-readers.

    There's another instance of this from 1551; while in a 1548 source we find 'They imagyne a Sinecdoch to be in thys worde' and 'The subtyll cauillacyons, whereby they fayne Sinecdochine'. That was how they spelt then; it isn't now.

    July 31, 2008

  • Well, that settles that then, doesn't it? OED stands corrected.

    *moves to synecdoche page*

    July 31, 2008

  • people! pleashe shtop lishting thish non-word.

    February 26, 2009

  • I suppose if one had WORDIE PRO, one might receive a gentle notice when one lists a misspelled word, to the effect:

    "SYNECHDOCHE is a misspelling. Do you wish to continue listing it?"

    February 26, 2009