[f. SYNECDOCHE + -ISM.] a. Gram. and Rhet. Synecdochical style; the use of synecdoche. b. Ethnol. Belief or practice in which a part of an object or person is taken as equivalent to the whole, so that anything done to, or by means of, the part is held to take effect upon, or have the effect of, the whole.

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1854.  Badham, Halieut., 463. The surmise of Jovius, though not absolutely impossible is … so unusual a specimen of catachrestic synecdochism as to be scarcely admissible.

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1894–5.  Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethnol., 23. One or more pieces of the skull (for in synecdochism the piece carries the virtue of the whole) of the slain enemy were used as amulets.

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