Metonymic

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ËŒmÉ›t.əˈnɪm.ɪk/

Origin

From Ancient Greek μετωνυμικός (metōnumikos, "of or like metonymy"), from μετωνυμία (metōnumia, "change of name"), from μετά (meta, "other") + ὄνυμα (onuma, "name").

Full definition of metonymic

Adjective

1. Of, or relating to, a word or phrase that names an object from a single characteristic of it or of a closely related object.The British government is often referred to by the metonymic expression "Downing Street".
• 1999, Udo Hahn & Katja Markert, "On the Formal Distinction between Literal and Figurative Language", Progress in Artificial Intelligence: 9th Portuguese Conference on Artificial Intelligence, page 140With a metonymic expression encountered in almost every sixth utterance, an uncontroversial need for dealing with this problem is demonstrated.

Derived terms

• metonymical
• metonymically

Related terms

• metonym
• metonymy

Noun

1. A metonym.