SYNECDOCHE

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SYNECDOCHE [Stress: ‘sin-EK-doh-ky’]. In RHETORIC, a figure of speech concerned with parts and wholes: (1) Where the part represents the whole: ‘All hands on deck’ (the members of a ship's crew represented by their hands alone). (2) Where the whole represents the part: ‘England lost to Australia in the last Test Match’ (the countries standing for the teams representing them and taking a plural verb). See METONYMY.

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