metonymy

1. (rhetoric) 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.

   cot en

   Hypernyms: trope, figure of speech

   hypo en

   • [1835, L[arret] Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, OCLC 1062248511 ↗, page 7 ↗:

     Metonymy does new names impose,
     And things for things by near relation shews.]

2. (countable) A metonym.

• French: métonymie
• German: Metonymie, Namenvertauschung
• Italian: metonimia
• Portuguese: metonímia
• Russian: метони́мия
• Spanish: metonimia