3

Possible Duplicate:
Is there a term for referring to an organization by its city rather than by its name?

I can't come up with an example I actually read right now, but the capital city is sometimes used to represent the government. e.g "The government stated that.....", that would be "London stated that....." or "Official statements from London...." (the 1st example may not be correct!).

There is a name given when using capitals to represent the government. What is it?

Community
  • 1
abdulhaq-e
  • 133

1 Answers1

7

metonym is the word you're looking for. Here's the definition from Google's dictionary:

noun /ˈmetəˌnim/  metonyms, plural

A word, name, or expression used as a substitute for something else with which it is closely associated. For example, Washington is a metonym for the federal government of the U.S

Pitarou
  • 13,861