Synecdoche

Synecdoche is a variety of metonymy based on a quantitative correlation between objects: the name of a part is used instead of the whole or, conversely, the name of the whole instead of a part, the singular instead of the plural, the species instead of the genus. Examples: "the native roof" instead of "home," "no enemy foot shall tread here" instead of "the enemy." Synecdoche allows the whole to be grasped through a characteristic detail, lending the image concreteness and at the same time generalisation. It is closely linked to metonymy, since it too rests on a real rather than a resemblance-based connection of concepts, but is distinguished precisely by the "part–whole" relation. Synecdoche is an important means of artistic detailing and symbolic generalisation in poetic and prose speech.