metropolis

noun

me·​trop·​o·​lis mə-ˈträ-p(ə-)ləs 

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

an industrial metropolis

a cattle metropolis

b

: a large important city

one of Europe's great metropolises

Synonyms

• asphalt jungle
• burg
• city
• cosmopolis
• megacity
• megalopolis
• municipality
• town

Examples of metropolis in a Sentence

a big, teeming metropolis where ambitious people from all over come to make their mark

Recent Examples on the Web

The ancient metropolis is where cylinder seals were invented and used for administrative purposes. —Ashley Strickland, CNN, 5 Nov. 2024

But for those who aren’t from Senegal’s capital city, there’s luckily no shortage of restaurants serving homestyle cooking and cuisine inspired by groups from Central Africa to Western Europe that have left a cultural imprint on or established new homes in the coastal metropolis. —Kayla Stewart, Saveur, 30 Oct. 2024

When Reuss was a small child, his family moved from Dolina to Vienna along with hundreds of thousands of other immigrants from the empire’s distant outposts, all landing in the imperial metropolis as the 19th century came to a close. —Tomas Weber, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Oct. 2024

The metropolis is located at the intersection of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers in southwest-central China. —Katherine McLaughlin, Architectural Digest, 17 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Late Latin, from Greek mētropolis, from mētr-, mētēr mother + polis city — more at mother, police entry 1

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

metropolis

noun

me·​trop·​o·​lis mə-ˈträp-(ə-)ləs 

1

: the chief or capital city of a country, state, or region

2

: a large important city