Metonymy
Calling something by the name of an associated thing — 'the crown' for 'the monarchy'.
Metonymy is the figure in which a thing is referred to by something closely associated with it: 'the crown' for the monarchy, 'the press' for the news media, 'Washington' for the US government. The substitution is not strict synonymy — a crown is not a person — but the connection is so well-established that the figure feels natural.
Metonymy is the workhorse of headlines, where space is short. It is also a powerful rhetorical move because it concentrates a complex institution into a single concrete image, which is then easier to praise or attack.
The figure is sometimes confused with synecdoche, where the part stands for the whole ('all hands on deck'). The distinction matters less in speech than it does in literary analysis.
“The pen is mightier than the sword.”
Keep reading the glossary
A figure of speech that describes one thing as if it were another.
An indirect reference to another text, person, event, or work — often quoted.
The art of persuasive speaking and writing — the discipline behind every great quoted line.
Aristotle's three modes of persuasion — character, emotion, and reason.