Metonymy & Synecdoche

Metonymy

Oxford Dictionary online: me·ton·y·my, /məˈtänəmē/, “me-tohn’-i-mee”: noun: the substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant, for example suit for business executive, or the track for horse racing.

Synecdoche

Oxford Dictionary online: syn·ec·do·che, /səˈnekdəkē/, “sin-neck’-do-kee”: noun : a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, as in Cleveland won by six runs (meaning “Cleveland's baseball team”).

'Synecdoche' is when the word for a part of something is used to refer to the whole thing, or less commonly, the word for a whole is used to refer to a part. 'Metonymy' is when a word associated with something is used to refer to the thing itself.

Examples:

Metonymy: “the pen is mightier than the sword”. A pen is related to a sword in this saying but is not a part of it. Other examples include referring to the President of the United States, or their administration as “the White House” or “the Oval Office.” Other examples of metonymy:

• Crown. (For the power of a king.)
• The White House. (Referring to the American administration.)
• Dish. (To refer an entire plate of food.)
• The Pentagon. (For the Department of Defense and the offices of the U.S. Armed Forces.)
• Pen. ...
• Sword - (For military force.)
• Hollywood. ...

A Scriptural example of a metonymy would be in Ps 97.8 where “Zion” refers to Israel’s land but more importantly their people.

Synecdoche: using “The Crown” to refer to the Queen or King. Their crown is part of the monarch’s physically trappings. Other examples: the word hand in "offer your hand in marriage"; mouths in "hungry mouths to feed"; and wheels referring to a car. An example from Scripture would be Ps 97.8 where “the daughters of Judah” refers to all Judean peoples.