syn·ec·do·che / siˈnekdəkē/ • n. 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”).DERIVATIVES: syn·ec·doch·ic / ˌsinekˈdäkik/ adj.syn·ec·doch·i·cal / ˌsinekˈdäkikəl/ adj.syn·ec·doch·i·cal·ly / -ˈdäkik(ə)lē/ adv.

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.

synecdoche - L. synecdochē — Gr. sunekdokhḗ, f. sunekdékhesthai, f. SYN- + ekdékhesthai take up.