Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Synecdoche
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Examples== {{Unreferenced section|date=May 2022}} ===Part referring to whole ''(pars pro toto)''=== * Referring to a person according to a single characteristic: "gray beard" meaning an old man * Referring to a sword as a "blade" * Describing a complete vehicle as "wheels", an entire airplane as a [[private jet]], or a manual transmission vehicle as a "stick" * Referring to a country's currency by using the common name of a single coin within that currency, such as referring to the [[Canadian Dollar]] as "the [[Loonie]]" ===General class name that denotes a specific member of that or an associated class=== * Referring to a [[species]] of an organism or virus by the name of one of its [[Taxonomic rank|hierarchical groups]], e.g., "[[Coronavirus]] [specifically meaning the [[COVID-19]] virus] is rampant throughout the city." * Using [[technology]] specifically to refer to [[high technology]] or [[electronic device]]s ===Specific class name referring to general set of associated things{{Dubious|reason=these are metonyms|date=March 2025}}=== * "[[John Hancock]]" (used in the United States), for the signature of any person * A [[genericized trademark]], for example, "[[Xerox]]" for any variety of duplicate made on a [[photocopier]], "[[Coca-Cola|Coke]]" for any variety of [[cola]] (or for any variety of soft drink, as in the southern United States), "[[Kleenex]]" for facial tissues, "[[Vaseline]]" for petroleum jelly, "[[Band-Aid]]" (in the [[United States]]) for any variety of [[adhesive bandage]], "[[Tide (brand)|Tide]]" ([[United States of America|US]]) for any variety of laundry detergent, "[[The Hoover Company|Hoover]]" ([[UK]]) for any variety of [[vacuum cleaner]], or "[[Styrofoam]]" ([[United States of America|US]]) for any product made of expanded [[polystyrene]]. ===Referring to material actually or supposedly used to make something=== * "brass" for [[brass instruments]], or the [[shell casing]]s of bullet [[cartridge (ammunition)|cartridge]]s, or the [[Military awards and decorations|medals]] and stars of high-ranking [[military officer]]s * "lead" for [[bullet]]s, lead being the most common material for making bullets, or for the [[graphite]] core of a pencil * "vinyl" for [[phonograph record]]s * "cement" for [[concrete]], cement being just the binder in concrete ===Container refers to its contents=== * "barrel" for a barrel of oil, or the equivalent volume of a standard barrel * "keg" for a keg of beer * "She drank the cup", to refer to her drinking of the cup's contents
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)