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synecdoche

By Ginny Wiehardt, About.com

Definition: Synecdoche is a kind of figurative language in which a part stands for the whole, or vice versa.
Common Misspellings: synechdoche
Examples:
Saying the "White House," to mean the U.S. government, is an example of synecdoche.

For more examples of synecdoche and to test your knowledge of other figures of speech, take the figurative language quiz.

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