What is antonomasia?

Definition
	Antonomasia is
	the use of a proper name to stand for something else having an attribute associated with that name, or the use of a general term to stand for a referent having a proper name.

Examples (English)
	The use of a Solomon to stand for "a wise man" The use of Land of Lakes to stand for "Minnesota"

Generic
	Antonomasia is a kind of
	What is metonymy?

Sources
	Pei and Gaynor 1954 15
	Corbett 1971 485
	Gove 1966 97

Context for this page:

Concept module: antonomasia
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): A
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

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