Word.ws English Dictionary

metonymic

/ˌmɛt.əˈnɪm.ɪk/

metonymic adjective: of, or relating to, a word or phrase that names an object from a single characteristic of it or of a closely related object.

Adjective

metonymic (comparative more metonymic, superlative most metonymic)

  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".
    • With a metonymic expression encountered in almost every sixth utterance, an uncontroversial need for dealing with this problem is demonstrated.1999, Udo Hahn, Katja Markert, “On the Formal Distinction between Literal and Figurative Language”, in Progress in Artificial Intelligence: 9th Portuguese Conference on Artificial Intelligence, page...

Noun

metonymic (plural metonymics)

  1. Synonym of metonym, an instance of metonymy.
    Synonyms:
    metonym

Synonyms of metonymic

Forms of metonymic

Adjective
comparativemore metonymic
superlativemost metonymic
Noun
pluralmetonymics

Origin of metonymic

From Ancient Greek μετωνυμικός (metōnumikós, “of or like metonymy”), from μετωνυμία (metōnumía, “change of name”), from μετά (metá, “other”) + ὄνυμα (ónuma, “name”). By surface analysis, metonym + -ic.

Words formed from metonymic

Questions about metonymic

What does metonymic mean?
Metonymic means of, or relating to, a word or phrase that names an object from a single characteristic of it or of a closely related object.
What part of speech is metonymic?
Metonymic can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce metonymic?
Metonymic is pronounced /ˌmɛt.əˈnɪm.ɪk/ (UK).

Words near metonymic in the dictionary

  1. Metonic cycle
  2. Metonic cycles
  3. metonitazene
  4. metonomy
  5. metonym
  6. metonymic
  7. metonymical
  8. metonymically
  9. metonymics
  10. metonymies
  11. metonymize

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: metonymic (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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