Adjacent Words

Metropolis definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

METROP'OLIS, n. [L. from Gr. mother, and city. It has no plural.]
Literally, the mother-city, that is, the chief city or capital of a kingdom, state or country, as Paris in France, Madrid in Spain, London in Great Britain. In the United States, Washington, in the District of Columbia, is the metropolis, as being the seat of government; but in several of the states, the largest cities are not the seats of the respective governments. Yet New York city, in the state of that name, and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, are the chief cities, and may be called each the metropolis of the state in which it is situated, though neither of them is the seat of government in the state.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts; "Ancient Troy was a great city" [syn: city, metropolis, urban center]
2: people living in a large densely populated municipality; "the city voted for Republicans in 1994" [syn: city, metropolis]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Late Latin, from Greek m?tropolis, from m?tr-, m?t?r mother + polis city — more at mother, police Date: 14th century 1. the chief or capital city of a country, state, or region 2. the city or state of origin of a colony (as of ancient Greece) 3. a. a city regarded as a center of a specified activity <a great business metropolis> b. a large important city <the world's great metropolises — P. E. James>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 the chief city of a country; a capital city. 2 a metropolitan bishop's see. 3 a centre of activity. Etymology: LL f. Gk metropolis parent State f. meter metros mother + polis city

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Metropolis Me*trop"o*lis, n. [L. metropolis, Gr. ?, prop., the mother city (in relation to colonies); ? mother + ? city. See Mother, and Police.] 1. The mother city; the chief city of a kingdom, state, or country. [Edinburgh] gray metropolis of the North. --Tennyson. 2. (Eccl.) The seat, or see, of the metropolitan, or highest church dignitary. The great metropolis and see of Rome. --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(metropolises) A metropolis is the largest, busiest, and most important city in a country or region. ...the bustling metropolis of Chengdu. N-COUNT: usu sing

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Chief city, capital.

Moby Thesaurus

Kreis, Stadt, archbishopric, archdiocese, arrondissement, art center, bailiwick, banlieue, bishopric, boom town, borough, bourg, burg, burgh, canton, capital, capital city, city, commune, congressional district, constablewick, conurbation, county, departement, diocese, district, duchy, electoral district, electorate, exurb, exurbia, faubourg, garment center, ghost town, government, greater city, hamlet, hundred, magistracy, manufacturing center, market town, medical center, megalopolis, metropolitan area, municipality, oblast, okrug, outskirts, parish, polis, precinct, principality, province, railroad center, region, riding, sheriffalty, sheriffwick, shipping center, shire, shopping center, shrievalty, soke, spread city, stake, state, suburb, suburbia, territory, tourist center, town, township, trade center, urban center, urban complex, urban sprawl, urbs, village, ville, wapentake, ward