Metonymy is a figure of speech which substitutes one term for another. For example, Madison Avenue is a street in New York City, but is often used to refer to the entire advertising industry because numerous advertising firms are located there. Likewise, "the pen is mightier than the sword" equates the "pen" with diplomacy or thinking and the "sword" with violence or military power. Metonymy is often confused with metaphor because they both equate terms that are not the same. In the case of metonymy, however, the two terms are related (Washington and government), whereas a metaphor often pairs very dissimilar concepts (a cat and fog).
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