Metonymic

Metonymic is an adjective describing language or expression that uses metonymy, a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with it. The term metonymy comes from Greek metônymía, literally a change of name.

Metonymy relies on contiguity or association rather than similarity. Common patterns include using a container to refer to its contents (drink from a glass), an institution to refer to its officials (the White House issued a statement), a place to refer to people or events associated with it (Wall Street reacted), a producer or brand to refer to a product (Nike released a new sneaker), or a material to refer to an object (the brass for senior officials).

Metonymy is distinct from metaphor, which maps across conceptual domains on the basis of similarity rather than close association. Synecdoche, a subtype of metonymy, uses a part to stand for a whole or a whole for a part (hands on deck; Rome fell—the city for its empire; the crown for kingly power).

In linguistics and rhetoric, metonymic usage is widely studied for its role in meaning, reference, and discourse. It is common in journalism, branding, and everyday speech, and is analyzed in cognitive linguistics as a natural mechanism by which people reason about social and physical worlds. The adjective metonymic therefore describes expressions or phenomena that embody metonymy, rather than literal naming.