metonymy

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Contents

English [edit]

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Etymology [edit]

From Late Latin metonymia, from Ancient Greek μετονομασία (metōnumia, “change of name”), from μετά (meta, “other”) + ὄνομα (onoma, “name”).

Noun [edit]

metonymy (countable and uncountable; plural metonymies)

  1. The use of a single characteristic or name of an object to identify an entire object or related object.
  2. (countable) A metonym.
Examples
  • The White House released its official report today. — "The White House" for "The presidential administration"
  • The Crown has enacted a new social security policy. —"The Crown" for "The government of the United Kingdom".
  • A crowd of fifty heads —where "head" stands for person.
  • Put it on the plastic — material (plastic) for object (credit card)

Coordinate terms [edit]

Hypernyms [edit]

Hyponyms [edit]

Derived terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

figure of speech
metonym — see metonym

See also [edit]

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