Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Metonymy |
MetonymyNoun1. Substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself (as in `they counted heads'). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "metonymy" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1831. (references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Metaphor | Phrase; figure, trope, metaphor, enallage, catachresis; metonymy, synecdoche; autonomasia, irony, figurativeness; Adjective: image, imagery; metalepsis, type, anagoge, simile, personification, prosopopoeia, allegory, apologue, parable, fable; allusion, adumbration; application. |
Substitution | Noun: substitution, commutation; supplanting; Verb: metaphor, metonymy; (figure of speech). |
Supposition | Association of ideas, (analogy) a; metonym, metonymy, simile (metaphor). |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
In rhetoric, metonymy is the substitution of one word for another with which it is associated. Metonymy works by contiguity rather than similarity. Typically, when someone uses metonymy, they don't wish to transfer qualities (as you do with metaphor). The common figure "The White House said..." is a good example of metonymy, with the term "White House" actually referring to the authorities who are symbolized by the White House, which is an inanimate object that says nothing. The Big Apple for New York or The Crown for a kingdom are other examples of this kind of metonymy. Metonymy can also refer to the rhetorical strategy of describing something indirectly by referring to things around it: describing someone's house in order to describe them, for example. Advertising frequently uses this kind of metonymy, simply putting a product in close proximity to something we want (beauty, happiness). See also figure of speech, synecdoche, metalepsis.
In cognitive linguistics, metonymy is one of the basic characteristics of cognition. It is extremely common for people to take one well-understood or easy-to-perceive aspect of something and use that aspect to stand either for the thing as a whole or for some other aspect or part of it. For example,
The pen is mightier than the sword.
"Pen" and "sword" denote publishing, and military force respectively.
See also: Social stereotype
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Metonymy."
Crosswords: Metonymy |
| English words defined with "metonymy": metalepsis. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "metonymy": Decuman. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Metonymy" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Metonymy" is used about 23 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 23 | 72,767 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
metonymy | 30 |
animal farm in metonymy | 4 |
example metonymy | 4 |
definition metonymy | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "metonymy"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | metonomi. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | الكناية أو المنجاز المرسل. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | метонимия. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | métonymie. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | metonymie. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | μετωνυμία. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מטו ומי", שמוש במל" ר"פת. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | metonímia, fogalomcsere. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | metonimia. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 換喩 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | か"ゆ (cod-liver oil). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | etonymymay híbrido (crossbred, crossbreed, hybridization). (various references) метонимия. (various references) metonimija. (various references) metonimia. (various references) metonymi. (various references) kinaye (allegory, allusion, pointer, trope), benzerinin ismini kullanma, ad değişimi. (various references) метонімія. (various references) trawsenwad. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Misspellings | |
"Metonymy" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: etonym, mentonym, meronym, metanym, methonium, metonimy, metonomy, metonyme, metonymn, metronymy, metynomy, motonym. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "metonymy" (pronounced 'Me*ton"y*my'): Academy, Adenotomy, Adesmy, Adynamy, Agronomy, Alchemy, Allogamy, Anatomy, Andranatomy, Androtomy, Angiotomy, Anomy, Antinomy, Aplotomy, Apogamy, Aponeurotomy, Archenemy, Army, Arrhytmy, Arteriotomy, Astronomy, Atimy, Autogamy, Autonomy, Belamy, BIGAMY, Bionomy, Blasphemy, Blosmy, Bronchotomy, Capsulotomy, Celotomy, Cephalotomy, Chalazogamy, Chasmy, Chirognomy, Chironomy, Cholecystotomy, Chondrotomy, Cirsotomy, Clammy, Cleronomy, Coenogamy, Colotomy, Craniognomy, Craniotomy, Crummy, Cystotomy, Dactylonomy, Dysnomy. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-m-m-n-o-t-y-y" | |
-1 letter: metonym. | |
-2 letters: etymon, moment. | |
-3 letters: money, monte, motey, tommy, toney. | |
-4 letters: memo, meno, mome, mony, mote, nome, note, omen, tome, tone, tony, tyne. | |
-5 letters: eon, mem, men, met, mom, mon, mot, net, nom, not, one, ten, toe, tom, ton, toy, tye, yen, yet, yom, yon. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-m-m-n-o-t-y-y" | |
+3 letters: dynamometry. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)4D 65 74 6F 6E 79 6D 79 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
|
| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
|
| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
|
| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
|
Morse Code (1836) (references)-- . - --- -. -.--. -- -.--. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
|
Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001101 01100101 01110100 01101111 01101110 01111001 01101101 01111001 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)M e t o n y m y |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)004D 0065 0074 006F 006E 0079 006D 0079 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
|
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)4771868180917991 |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Commercial 4. Usage Frequency | 5. Expressions: Internet 6. Translations: Modern 7. Derivations 8. Rhymes | 9. Anagrams 10. Orthography 11. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
| Note to the press & webmasters - this dictionary can be linked, indexed, or referred to using the following non-English expressions: woordeboek, fjalor, معجم, قاموس, diccionariu, речник, diccionari, diksyonario, diksinario, 字典, gérlyver, slovník, ordbog, woordenboek, shimiyuc p'anca, orðabók, orðbók, dictionnaire, wurdboek, wörterbuch, λεξικό, אוצר מילים, szótár, uqausiit tukingit, dizionario, 字引 , じい, じびき, じて", ディクショナリー , じり", じしょ, '"かい, ディクショナリ , 사 , dizionari, recnik, fockleyr, dikshonario, słownik, dicionário, dicţionar, dicziunari, словарь, lolomi fefiloi, foclair, abardair, faclair, briathrachan, pukuntau, leksikon, rečnik, vocabbulariu, diccionario, sí-chazamagâma, ordbok, lexikon, พจนานุกรม, sözlük, ansiklopedik sözlük, словник, довідник, có tính chất sách vở, geirlyfr, geiriadur, for dictionary; definisie, qartësi, përcaktim, saktësi, الوضوحية في الشيء, حد, تحديد, تعريف, التحديد, الإيضاحية, яснота, сила, очертания, дефиниция, 定義 , 定义, definice, deskriptordefinition, definitie, määritelmä, définition, ορισμός, "'"ר", "'בל", meghatározás, definíció, definizione, 確定 , ディーゼル電気車 , デ'ドロ酢酸 , デフィニション , ディフィニション , ていぎ, かくてい, 의, geyrid, meenaghey, keeayllaght, baght, definishon, definição, definiţie, determinare, definire, определение, definicija, definición, definition, açıklama, belirleme, belirtme, kesinleştirme, tanım, tarif, seçiklik, tanımlama, чіткість, тлумачення, виразність, визначення, дефініція, ясність, чітка чутність, sự định rõ, sự định nghĩa, lời định nghĩa sự định, diffiniad, darnodiad, for definition; vertaling, transferim, transmetim, ترجمة من لغة أجنبية للغة الأم, ترجمة, إفتتان, транслация, огъване, превод, предаване, поддаване, тълкуване, превеждане, 翻译, překlad, oversættelse, translatie, taajuusmuutos, translaatio, traduction, oersetting, Übersetzung, μετάφραση, תור'מ ות, תר'ום, "עתק", "עתק, fordítás, traduzione, 翻訳 , へい"ういどう, やくしょ, やくしゅつ, "うどく, ほ"やく, トランスレーション , やくじゅつ, ほ"やくしょ, 번역, tradukshon, tradução, translaţie, tãlmãcire, traducere, сдвиг, трансляция, перемещение, перевод, tumačenje, traducción, översättning, tercüme, процес перекладу, переклад, пояснення, переміщення, sự dịch, sự biến th nh sự giải thích, trosiad, for translation; Albaans, Albanies, Albaniese taal, shqip, الألبانية, الألباني, албанец, албански език, албански, Albanyano, 阿"巴尼亚语, 阿爾巴尼亞人 , albánský, Albanees, albanskt, albanialainen, Albanais, Albaneesk, albaner, αλβανικόσ, Αλβανός, αλβανόσ, arbnisht, arbërisht, albán, albanskur, albanska, AlbÚinis, albanese, 알"니아, Albaneagh, albanês, arnãut, albanez, arnãuţesc, албанский, Alapania, albanski, albanac, albanés, alban, Arnavut, албанський, албанка, албанець, for Albanian; Arabies, arabishte, العربية, عربي, اللغة العربية, арабски език, арабски, 阿拉伯 , arabský, arabština, arábiskt, arabialainen, arabe, Arabysk, arabisch, αραβικόσ, ערבית, ערבי, arab, arabo, 아라비아, Arabish, arabir, arabic, арабский, Arapi, arapski, árabe, arabisk, าษาหรืออักขระอาหรับ, เกี่ยวกับอาระเบีย, arapça, arap, araplara özgü, арабська мова, арабський, tiếng A-rập, thuộc A-rập, for Arabic; Bulgaars, Bulgaar, bulgr, البلغارية, بلغاري, Búlgaru, български, български език, българин, Bulgaryan, 保 利亚, bulharský, bulgarer, bulgarskt, bulgarialainen, Bulgaarsk, bulgare, 'ούλγαρος, bullgar, bolgár, bulgaro, 불가리아, Bulgeyragh, Bulgeyrish, Bułgar, болгарский, болгарин, bugarski jezik, bugarski, bugarka, bugarin, búlgaro, bulgar, bulgaristan ile ilgili, болгарський, người Bun-ga-ri tiếng Bun-ga-ri, for Bulgarian; Franse taal, Frans, franceze, francez, frëngjisht, frëng, frëngjishte, فرنسي, اللغة الفرنسية, الشعب الفرنسي, gall, френски език, френски, Pranses, 法國 , 法文 , 法語 , 法语, francouzština, francouzský, franskur, franskt, ranskalainen, français, Frânsk, französisch, γάλλοσ, γαλλικόσ, γαλλική γλώσσα, γαλλίδα, צרפתי, צרפתית, francia, Fraincis, francese, フレコン化 , フランス" , 仏文 , 仏 , ふつぶ", フレンチ , フランセ , ふつ, "랑스, Perancis, Ny Frangee, Mooinjey ny Frank, frances, franses, francês, francezii, francezã, franţuzesc, franţuzeşte, французский, Falani, francuski jezik, francuski, francuzi, francés, sí-Fulentji, fransk, franska, fransızca, Fransiz, fransızca ile ilgili, fransız, fransa ile ilgili, французька мова, французький, Ffrengig, isiFulentshi, for French; Duits, Duitser, Duitse taal, Germaan, gjerman, ضرب من الرقص, جرماني, المانية, الماني, اللغة الألمانية, роден, германски, немски език, немски, немец, готически, германец, 德語 , 德语, 德文 , 德國 , nìmecký, nìmec, tysker, Duitse, týskur, týskt, týskari, saksalainen, Allemand, Dútsk, Deutsche, Deutsch, "ερμανός, gjermanisht, 'רמ י, 'רמ ית, német, þjóðverji, þýskur, GearmÚnach, GearmÚinis, tedesco, ジプシー音楽 , ジャーマン , 독일, todesch, Germaanagh, Garmane, Germaanish, Carmane, aleman, Niemiec, niemiecki, alemão, alemand, neamţ, немецкий, Siamani, germanski, alemán, Tudesku, Doysri, mjeremani, mdachi, sí-Jalimáne, tysk, เยอรมัน, าษาเยอรมัน, Alman, німкеня, німецький, німець, $sisters german$ chị em ruột, $cousin german$ anh chị em con chú bác ruột, sister, Almaenwr, isiJalimane, iliJalimane, iJalimane, for German; Grieks, Griek, الإغريقي, يوناني, اللغة اليونانية, Griegu, гръцки език, гръцки, грък, Griyego, 希臘語 , 希腊语, řecký, řeètina, řek, græker, grikst, kreikkalainen, grec, Gryk, Gryksk, Gryks, grieche, ελληνικόσ, 'Ελληνας, יו ית, יו י, görög, Grikki, greco, ギリシア語 , ギリシア", 그리스, Greagish, Greagagh, grego, grèc, greacã, греческий, Eleni, grk, grčki jezik, grčki, griego, grek, Yunanli, yunanlı, yunanca, yunan, Rumca, yunanistan'a ait, rum, грек, гречанка, грецька мова, грецький, kẻ cắp b gi gặp nhau, quân bạc bịp tôi không thể hiểu được điều đó thật l kỳ phùng địch thủ, người Hy-lạp tiếng Hy-lạp kẻ bịp bợm, kẻ lừa đảo, Groegwr, for Greek; Jood, Hebreeus, Israeliet, hebraishte, يهودي, عبري, اليهودية, اللغة العبرية, العبرية, Hebréu, иврит, древен жител на юдея, юдейски, израилтянин, евреин, староеврейски, староеврейски език, юдей, 西伯来, 希伯來語 , hebrejský, hebrejka, hebrejec, hebrejština, joods, Hebreeuws, hebraiskt, juutalainen, hébreu, Hebrieusk, hebräisch, hebräer, εβραϊκόσ, εβραϊκά, εβραίοσ, עברית, עברי, zsidó, héber, izraelita, Eabhrais, ebraico, ebreo, ヘブライ語 , ヘブライ", Ewagh, Ew, Ewnish, hudiu, hebraico, hebreu, ebrèu, limba ebraicã, izraelit, evreu, evreiesc, ebraic, еврейский, еврей, древнееврейский, древнееврейский язык, Eperu, hibru, hebreo, dyu, Myahudi, Yahudi, hebreiska, hebreisk, jude, ชาวฮิบรู (ปัจจุบันคือประเทศอิสราเอลและปาเลสไตน์), าษาฮิบรู (ปัจจุบันคือประเทศอิสราเอลและปาเลสไตน์), musevi, ibranice, ibrani, іудей, старо"врейська мова, старо"врейський, іврит, "врейський, "врей, người Hê-brơ, Hebraeg, Hebreaidd, for Hebrew; Hongaars, Hongaar, hungarez, الهنغاري, مجري, هنغاري, المجري, اللغة الهنغارية, Húngaru, унгарски език, унгарски, унгарец, Hungaryan, 匈牙利語 , 匈牙利语, maïarský, maïar, maïarština, ungarer, Hongaarse, ungarskt, unkarilainen, hongrois, Hongaarsk, ungar, Ούγγρος, "ו 'רי, magyar, ungherese, 헝가리, Ungaarish, Ungaaragh, Węgier, ongrés, ungureşte, ungur, limba maghiarã, unguresc, maghiar, limba ungarã, венгр, венгерский, mađarski, mađar, mađarski jezik, húngaro, ungrare, ชาวฮังการี, macarca, macar, угорська мова, угорка, угорський, угорець, người Hung-ga-ri tiếng Hung-ga-ri, for Hungarian; Italianer, Italiaans, Italiaan, شخص إيطالي, اللغة الإيطالية, الإيطالي, إيطالي, Italianu, италиански език, италиански, италианец, Italyano, 意大利 , 意大利語 , 意大利语, italština, italský, ital, italiener, italienskt, italialainen, Italien, Italjaansk, italienisch, Ιταλός, italisht, איטלקי, איטלקית, olasz, Ítali, IodÚilis, italiano, 이탈리아, Iddaalish, Włoch, italianã, italienesc, italieneşte, italian, итальянский язык, итальянский, итальянец, Italia, italijanski, italijanski jezik, italijan, sí-Taliyáne, italienare, italiensk, italienska, เกี่ยวกับอิตาลี, ชาวอิตาลี, าษาอิตาลี, italyanca, italyan, італі"ць, італійська мова, італійський, італійка, for Italian; Portugees, portugez, portugalisht, اللغة البرتغالية, البرتغالية, البرتغالي, португалски език, португалски, португалец, Potuges, 葡萄牙语, 葡萄牙人 , 葡萄牙語 , portugalský, portugiser, portugisiskt, portugalilainen, portugais, Portugeesk, portugiesisch, πορτογάλοσ, ορτογάλος, portugál, Portaingéilis, portoghese, ポルトガル語 , ポルトガル", 포르투갈, Portiugish, Portiugagh, portugues, Portugalczyk, português, portughez, португальский, portugalski jezik, portugalski, portugalac, portugués, Mreno, si-Putúkezi, portugis, portekiz, Portekízlí, portekizli, portekizce, португальська мова, португальський, португалець, người B"-đ o-nha tiếng B"-đ o-nha, for Portuguese; Russies, Rus, الروسية, روسي, اللغة الروسية, Rusu, руски, руски език, руснак, Rusyan, 俄語 , 俄语, 俄文 , ruština, ruský, russer, russur, russiskt, venäläinen, Russysk, Russe, russisch, Ρώσος, רוסי, orosz, rússneskur, Rússi, Rúisis, russo, ロシア語 , ロシア", 러시아, Rooshish, Rooshagh, russisk, Rosjanin, русский, Lusia, ruski jezik, ruski, ruso, sí-Rashîya, ryss, ชาวรัสเซีย, rusça, росіянка, росіянин, російська мова, російський, người Nga tiếng Nga, for Russian; 塞爾維亞克羅地亞語 , 塞"维亚-克罗地亚语, serbokroatisch, 세르보크로아티아, servo-croata, sârbo-croat, srpsko-hrvatski, srpsko-hrvatski jezik, serbokroatiska, serbokroatisk, เกี่ยวกับ าษาเซอร์เบียและโครเอเชีย, าษาหลักของชาวเซอร์เบียและโครเอเชีย, for Serbo-Croatian; Spaans, Spaanse taal, spanjoll, اللغة الأسبانية, الأسبانية, أسباني, испански език, испански, espanyoles, Espanyol, 西班牙语, 西班牙文 , 西班牙語 , španìlský, španìlština, spanskt, espanjalainen, espagnol, Spaansk, spanisch, ισπανικά, ισπανικόσ, ισπανοί, karaiñe'êmegua, ספר"ית, ספר"י, spanyol, SpÚinnis, spagnolo, スペイン語 , スパイ罪 , スペイン", スパニッシュ , 스페인, Spaainagh, Spaainish, spañó, espanhol, espanhòl, spaniolesc, spanioleşte, spaniol, испанский, Sipaniolo, španski jezik, španski, español, spanska språk, spansk, ispanyollar, ispanyolca, ispanyol, іспанська мова, іспанський, for Spanish; Sweeds, suedez, اللغة السويدية, Suecu, шведски език, шведски, швед, Swedis, 瑞典語 , 瑞典语, švédský, švédština, Zweeds, svenskt, ruotsalainen, suédois, Sweedsk, schwedisch, σουηδικόσ, σουηδικά, svéd, sænskur, Sualainnis, svedese, スウェーデン語 , スウェーデン", 스웨덴, Soolynish, Soolynagh, suèc, шведский, švedski jezik, švedski, sueco, svensk, เกี่ยวกับคน าษาและวั'นธรรมของประเทศสวีเ"น, isveççe, isveç dili, isveç, Ísveçlí, шведська мова, шведський, người Thuỵ điển tiếng Thuỵ điển, for Swedish; Turks, turk, تركي أحد أبناء تركيا, اللغة التركية, Turcu, турски, турски език, Turko, 土耳其, 土耳其語 , tureètina, turecký, turkist, turkkilainen, turque, turc, Turksk, türkisch, τούρκικοσ, טורקי, török, Yn Turkish, Turkagh, turcesc, турецкий, turski jezik, turski, turco, turkisk, türk, türkçe, турецька мова, турецький, tiếng Thổ nhĩ kỳ, for Turkish; 乌克兰, for Ukranian; Wallies, i uellsit, gjuha e uellsit, shkel premtimin, populli i uellsit, ik pa paguar, ويلزي, الولزية لغة إقليم ويلز, تهرب من دفع الرهان, не си плащам дълга, измъквам се от задължение, уелски език, уелски, 威"士, 威爾士語 , waleština, waleský, Wels, valisiskt, gallois, walisisch, δεν πληρώνω τα οφειλόμενα, ουάλλοσ, ουαλλικόσ, walesi, Breatnais, gallese, Bretnagh, galês, gallés, limba velşã, din ţara galilor, velş, уэльский, velški jezik, podvaliti, velški, velšanin, galés, walesisk, galler ile ilgili, sözünü tutmamak, gal dili, bahisleri ödemeden kaçmak, şartları yerine getirmemek, ödemeden kaçmak, у"льський, валлійська мова, валлійці, валлійський, не віддати гроші, Cymreig, for Welsh; |
