metropolis
nounUK /mɪˈtɹɒp.ə.lɪs/ · US /məˈtɹɑp.ə.lɪs/
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
History, Human sciences, Sciences The mother (founding) polis (city state) of a colony.
Especially Ancient Greece
- 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.2010, James Mahoney, Colonialism and Postcolonial Development: Spanish America in Comparative Perspective:
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.1819, Washington Irving, The Sketch Book, Rural Life in England:
3 more examples
- [I]t would not be very much less absurd for someone to write about New York City after having spent only a few years or a few decades in this metropolis of inexhaustible adventure, of terrifying emotional fecundity, of uncapturable character.1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 52:
- Love is dead in metropolis / All contact through glove or partition1983, “Sleeper in Metropolis”, in Changing Places, performed by Anne Clark:
- They call me the Hiphopopotamus / Flows that glow like phosphorous / Popping off the top of this esophagus / Rocking this metropolis2008, “Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros”, performed by Flight of the Conchords:
3
The see of a metropolitan bishop, ranking above its suffragan diocesan bishops.
Orthodox Christianity
- Derived terms
- aerotropolis, metro, metropole, Metropolis, Metropolis of Lyon, metropolitan, metropolize, minimetropolis
- Related terms
- megalopolis, regiopolis