Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole or the whole represents a part. Synecdoche is a type of metonymy based on part-whole relationships.
Real World
Sports commentators say 'England won the Ashes' when referring to eleven cricketers, not 56 million people — the whole nation stands in for the part that actually played.
Exam Focus
Specify whether the synecdoche is part-for-whole or whole-for-part; examiners reward this distinction over a generic label.
How well did you know this?