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metropolis

noun

  1. large city
  2. religious region
L37375 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /mɪˈtɹɒp.ə.lɪs/ / /məˈtɹɑp.ə.lɪs/

name

Etymology: See English metropolis.

  1. Nickname for London: the capital city of the United Kingdom; the capital city of England, within Greater London.

    The journey from our town to the metropolis, was a journey of about five hours.

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from Late Latin mētropolis, from Ancient Greek μητρόπολις (mētrópolis, “mother city”), from μήτηρ (mḗtēr, “mother”) + πόλις (pólis, “city (state)”). By surface analysis, metro- + -polis. Doublet of metropole.

  1. The mother (founding) polis (city state) of a colony.

    Colonies certainly did not become "clones" of their metropolises, but it is equally false that their colonial heritages were not influenced by the organization of the metropolises.

  2. A large, busy city, especially as the main city in an area or country or as distinguished from surrounding rural areas.

    Holonym: metropolitan area

    An immense metropolis, like London, is calculated to make men selfish and uninteresting.

  3. The see of a metropolitan bishop, ranking above its suffragan diocesan bishops.
  4. A generic focus in the distribution of plants or animals.