metropolis

American  

[mi-trop-uh-lis] / mɪˈtrɒp ə lɪs /

noun

• metropolises
  plural

1. any large, busy city.

2. the chief, and sometimes capital, city of a country, state, or region.

3. a central or principal place, as of some activity.

   the music metropolis of France.

4. the mother city or parent state of a colony, especially of an ancient Greek colony.

5. the chief see of an ecclesiastical province.

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metropolis British  

/ mɪˈtrɒpəlɪs /

noun

1. the main city, esp of a country or region; capital

2. a centre of activity

3. the chief see in an ecclesiastical province

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• metropolises
  plural

Etymology

Origin of metropolis

1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin mētropolis < Greek mētrópolis a mother state or city, equivalent to mētro-, combining form of mḗtēr mother ¹ + pólis -polis, polis

Explanation

A large, densely populated urban area is called a metropolis. "She liked living in a metropolis because there were many opportunities in a city that were not available elsewhere, like 24-hour diners." The noun metropolis comes from the Greek roots mētēr, meaning "mother," and pólis, meaning "city." Historically, the word referred to the founding city-state of a region in Ancient Greece. Today the word refers to any urban area. The largest metropolis in Massachusetts is Boston, which is also the capital. Sometimes people use the word metropolis ironically or sarcastically: "She came from the booming metropolis of Tumbleweed, population 325."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

metropolis metropolises

The view changes as the ship’s pilots deftly navigate worlds — or at least try to — like the metropolis of Coruscant and the deserts of Tatooine.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026

Growing up in the metropolis of Abidjan in Ivory Coast, he decided early to become a professional footballer.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

It was part of a cross-border effort to stem the flow of as much as 30 million gallons of sewage a day from Tijuana, a border metropolis whose waste infrastructure hasn’t kept up with growth.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026

A consistent message emerged: Los Angeles was not a beautiful, vibrant metropolis with serious problems, but a hellhole verging on being lost for good.

From Slate ● Jun. 9, 2026

Even from this height, I should’ve heard the noise of the city—millions of people bustling around, thousands of cars and machines—the hum of a huge metropolis.

From "The Last Olympian" by Rick Riordan

The U.S. winners range from small cities such as Cape Coral, Fla., to major metropolises like San Francisco; many are tax havens.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 4, 2026

The city's population density is more than 7,100 people per square kilometre of land, on par with packed metropolises like Tokyo.

From Barron's ● Nov. 27, 2025

In Los Angeles and San Francisco, two of the other metropolises that have welcomed Waymo, subscribers to the $10-a-month DashPass can earn a $10 discount off one Waymo ride every month.

From Slate ● Oct. 22, 2025

Of 20 metropolises surveyed in a separate index, New York City continued to lead the pack, with an average 6.4% on-year rise in home prices in July.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2025

“The arrogance of big-city folk! You grant your metropolises all the animals of Eden, but you deny my hamlet the merest Bengal tiger!”

From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

Related Words

• capital
• downtown
• municipality