Automeronymy
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The quality or state of being an automeronym; the semantic relation between senses of a word such that one sense is meronymous to another. uncountable
"6.4.1.2 Automeronymy / Automeronymy occurs in a parallel way to autohyponymy, except that the more specific reading denotes subpart rather than a subtype, although it is by no means always easy to determine whether we should be talking about automeronymy or autoholonymy, that is to say, it is not easy to see which is the more basic use. An example of this may be door, which can refer to either the whole set-up, with jambs, lintel, threshold, hinges, and the leaf panel itself, as in Go through that door, or just the leaf, as in Take the door off its hinges. Notice the zeugma in the following, which confirms the discreteness of the specific reading: ?We took the door off its hinges and walked through it."
Example
More examples"6.4.1.2 Automeronymy / Automeronymy occurs in a parallel way to autohyponymy, except that the more specific reading denotes subpart rather than a subtype, although it is by no means always easy to determine whether we should be talking about automeronymy or autoholonymy, that is to say, it is not easy to see which is the more basic use. An example of this may be door, which can refer to either the whole set-up, with jambs, lintel, threshold, hinges, and the leaf panel itself, as in Go through that door, or just the leaf, as in Take the door off its hinges. Notice the zeugma in the following, which confirms the discreteness of the specific reading: ?We took the door off its hinges and walked through it."
Etymology
By surface analysis, auto- + meronymy, or, by surface analysis, automeronym + -y.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.