Sure, but it is not considered synonymous. When people say ML, they usually mean linear regression, bayesian optimization and gradient boosting, not necessarily artificial neural networks with backpropagation and some version of gradient descent.

Expert learning is also a subset of ML, yet they are not considered synonymous.

The same way we say ML is distinct from AI because it implies learning, we hold DL to be distinct from ML because these are not exactly statistical methods and it's mostly alchemy, and we hold expert systems as distinct from ML because it's just a fancy way of saying rule-based AI and it doesn't imply there's any learning involved.

One must realize that mathematical relations do not perfectly map onto human language and communication. Similarly to how a skirt is a part of a dress, yet we consider them different things, subsets of ML are not considered ML itself in language and communication.