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Cliche vs Metonymy - What's the difference?

cliche | metonymy |

As nouns the difference between cliche and metonymy

is that cliche is (overused phrase or expression) while metonymy is the use of a single characteristic or name of an object to identify an entire object or related object.

cliche

English

Alternative forms

* cliche

Noun

(wikipedia cliché) (en noun)
  • Something, most often a phrase or expression, that is overused or used outside its original context, so that its original impact and meaning are lost. A trite saying; a platitude.
  • The villain kidnapping the love interest in a film is a bit of a cliché .
  • (printing) A stereotype (printing plate).
  • Usage notes

    * The alternative spelling .)

    Synonyms

    * platitude * stereotype * See also

    Derived terms

    *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    metonymy

    Noun

  • The use of a single characteristic or name of an object to identify an entire object or related object.
  • (countable) A metonym.
  • {{examples-right, caption=metonymy , examples=*The White House released its official report today. — "The White House" for "The presidential administration"
    * The Crown has enacted a new social security policy. — "The Crown" for "The government of the United Kingdom".
    * A crowd of fifty heads — where "head" stands for person.
    * Put it on the plastic — material (plastic) for object (credit card), width=60%}}

    Coordinate terms

    * metaphor

    Hypernyms

    * trope, figure of speech

    Hyponyms

    * synecdoche, synecdochy

    Derived terms

    * metonymous * metonym * metonymic

    See also

    * ("metonymy" on Wikipedia) * metalepsis *