|Look up metonymy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.| Metonymy
(pron.: // mi-TONN-ə-mee) is a figure of speech used in rhetoric
in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but
by the name of something intimately associated with that thing
or concept. For instance, "Hollywood" is used as a metonym (an
instance of metonymy) for the U.S. film industry, because of the
fame and cultural identity of Hollywood, a district of the city
of Los Angeles, California, as the historical center of film
studios and film stars. A building which houses the seat of
government or the national capital is often used to represent
the government of a country, such as "Westminster" (Parliament
of the United Kingdom) or "Washington" (United States
government). The words "metonymy" and "metonym" come from the
Greek: μετωνυμία, metōnymía, "a change of name", from μετά,
metá, "after, beyond" and -ωνυμία, -ōnymía, a suffix used to
name figures of speech, from ὄνῠμα, ónyma or ὄνομα, ónoma,
"name." Metonymy also may be instru