METONYMY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does metonymy mean? 

• METONYMY (noun)
  The noun METONYMY has 1 sense:

1. substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself (as in 'they counted heads')

  Familiarity information: METONYMY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• METONYMY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself (as in 'they counted heads')

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("metonymy" is a kind of...):

figure; figure of speech; image; trope (language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense)

Domain member category:

voice ((metonymy) a singer)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "metonymy"):

metalepsis (substituting metonymy of one figurative sense for another)

Derivation:

metonymical (using the name of one thing for that of another with which it is closely associated)