synecdochicadj.

1787 J. Pinkerton Diss. Scythians i. iv. 69 (note) Diodorus Siculus remarks the cloudy speech, and intellect, synecdochic phrase, and hyperbolic pride, of the old Celts.

1883 W. P. Dickson St. Paul's Use of Terms Flesh & Spirit v. 111 ‘All flesh’..plainly applies to living beings generally and includes their mental nature... When we ask why the flesh is chosen as the most fitting part for such a synecdochic use, [etc.].

1952 H. Werner & E. Kaplan Acquisition of Word Meanings (Soc. Res. Child Devel.) i. 39 Synecdochic processes. Here, either a part of a global situation may be used for the whole or the whole used for the part.

1995 S. R. Goldzwig & G. N. Dionisopoulos In Perilous Hour i. iv. 98 In Kennedy's narrative, Cuba served as a synecdochic representation of global Communist repression.

2010 Observer 21 Feb. (New Review section) 44/2 His ‘biography’ of water stands as an exemplar among the glut of synecdochic histories of this kind.

1897 16th Ann. Rep. Bureau Amer. Ethnol. 1894–5 21 Incantation and sorcery through nail-parings, hair-combings, and other parts of the person (the synecdochic magic of Mason).

1907 New Internat. Encycl. XIV. 42/2 The Andamanese widow carefully dries the skull of her deceased husband, paints it with ochre, decorates it with rude lacework, and wears it for a memorial about the neck. Analogous synecdochic preservation of the dead is almost universal among primitive peoples.

1911 A. S. Mackenzie Evol. of Lit. viii. 128 Primitive man..believes that things which have once been in contact are never the same. Ever after there is a subtle relationship between the two. Thus arises synecdochic or sympathetic magic.