[Tex/LaTex] Reference name of description list item in LaTeX

cross-referencingdescriptionlistssyntax

(Repost from Stack Overflow)

I'd like to refer to a description list item by name instead of number. To that effect, I've added labels to each item, but when referencing them I only get the name of the section, not of the list item. How can I change it to show a custom label for each item?

\section{Definitions}
\begin{description}
    \item [Vehicle\label{itm:vehicle}] Something
    \item [Bus\label{itm:bus}] A type of \nameref{itm:vehicle}
    \item [Car\label{itm:car}] A type of \nameref{itm:vehicle} smaller than a \nameref{itm:bus}
\end{description}

The result is something like this:

1 Definitions

Vehicle Something
Bus A type of Definitions
Car A type of Definitions smaller than a Definitions

I'd like to have the following:

1 Definitions

Vehicle Something
Bus A type of Vehicle
Car A type of Vehicle smaller than a Bus

An alternative solution would be to use subsections and display them as a definition list. Anyone know how to do it?

The best answer on Stack Overflow referenced a \makeatletter hack:

\makeatletter
\def\namedlabel#1#2{\begingroup
   \def\@currentlabel{#2}%
   \label{#1}\endgroup
}
\makeatother
...
\section{Definitions}
\begin{description}
    \item [Vehicle\namedlabel{itm:vehicle}{Vehicle}] Something
    \item [Bus\namedlabel{itm:bus}{Bus}] A type of \ref{itm:vehicle}
    \item [Car\namedlabel{itm:car}{Car}] A type of \ref{itm:vehicle} smaller than a \ref{itm:bus}
\end{description}

It works, with the caveat that the links lead back to the section header, not to the list item. It would be nice to use something native which doesn't break \ref.

Best Answer

To expand a bit on some of the other answers: here is a modification that does not change the syntax of the description environment:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\usepackage{nameref}

\makeatletter
\let\orgdescriptionlabel\descriptionlabel
\renewcommand*{\descriptionlabel}[1]{%
  \let\orglabel\label
  \let\label\@gobble
  \phantomsection
  \edef\@currentlabel{#1}%
  %\edef\@currentlabelname{#1}%
  \let\label\orglabel
  \orgdescriptionlabel{#1}%
}
\makeatother

\begin{document}

\section{Definitions}
\begin{description}
    \item [Vehicle\label{itm:vehicle}] Something
    \item [Bus\label{itm:bus}] A type of \ref{itm:vehicle}
    \item [Car\label{itm:car}] A type of \ref{itm:vehicle} smaller than a \ref{itm:bus}
\end{description} 

The item `\ref{itm:bus}' is listed on page~\pageref{itm:bus} in section~\nameref{itm:bus}.

\end{document}
Related Question