Latin

Noun

pars pro toto

1. A type of metonymy in which an entity (person, object) is referred to by a (conspicuous) part, for the whole, e.g. a country by its capital.

   "Rome (says ...)" can just as well be a pars pro toto for Italy (in practice the Italian government) as a pars pro toto for the Roman Catholic church, notably the papacy as its universal government

Usage notes

• Examples:

  to use the Latin rota ‎(“wheel”) to refer to a car or chariot

  to use Holland to refer to the Netherlands

See also

• totum pro parte