Metonymy
//mɪˈtɑnəmi// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The use of a single characteristic or part of an object, concept or phenomenon to identify the entire object, concept, phenomenon or a related object. countable, rhetoric, uncountable
"Metonymy does new names impose, And things for things by near relation shews."
- 2 substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself (as in ‘they counted heads’) wordnet
- 3 A metonym. countable
Example
More examples"'Field,' by metonymy, is occasionally used as synonymous with 'battle'."
Etymology
From Late Latin metonymia, from Ancient Greek μετωνυμίᾱ (metōnumíā, “change of name”), from μετά (metá, “other”) + ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.