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What Is a Synecdoche?

When reading the morning paper’s sports section, you might see a headline that reads “New York Beats Boston.” Or after accidentally cutting yourself, you might shout, “I need a Band-Aid!” Both of these seemingly unrelated instances are examples of synecdoche (pronounced “sin-EK-doh-kee”), a figure of speech that’s used in one

of two ways. A macrocosm synecdoche is when a larger part is substituted for smaller divisions, and a microcosm synecdoche is when a smaller part is used to refer to a larger whole,. Without context, a synecdoche can seem confusing and incomplete, but with context, it can be an effective...

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