Dictionary.com tells me that Synecdoche is “a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the thing made from it (as steel for sword).”
Compare this with Metonymy, which I am told is “a figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated, as in the use of Washington for the United States government or of the sword for military power.”
So what’s the difference? Difficult to say. Can you use steel for military power? What figure of speech would this exemplify?
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