municipality
Americannoun
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municipalities
plural
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a city, town, or other district possessing corporate existence and usually its own local government.
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a community under municipal jurisdiction.
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the governing body of such a district or community.
noun
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a city, town, or district enjoying some degree of local self-government
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the governing body of such a unit
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of municipality
From the French word municipalité, dating back to 1780–90. See municipal, -ity
Explanation
If you live in a town or city that has a mayor or other officials who govern it, you live in a municipality. The word municipality comes from the Latin municipium, meaning "free city." A municipality has its own government, but sometimes municipalities join together to share services. For instance, two neighboring municipalities might decide to share a single recycling center in order to cut costs.
Vocabulary lists containing municipality
Just Mercy
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Inherit the Wind
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A Clockwork Orange
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The municipality is not waiting to find out, instead seeking to accelerate its economic diversification, hoping to find new areas of growth beyond the Opel plants.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
Indian Creek Village, which operates independently from the country club, is an entire incorporated municipality with its own legislative powers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
The Suisun City council declared a state of emergency Saturday after a cyberattack forced the municipality to shut down its information technology network.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
Some of those evacuated in Rethymno have been moved into a temporary shelter in a neighbouring municipality, Lioni said, adding provisions were also in place for tourists.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
Holmes acquired a ticket to a village called Englewood in the town of Lake, a municipality of 200,000 people that abutted Chicago’s southernmost boundary.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
Last month’s incidents have renewed questions about who should bear the cost of defending small, underfunded U.S. municipalities from potential attacks from nation-state hackers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
Dam safety laws allowed municipalities with their own engineering departments to operate without state oversight, and Mulholland had taken advantage of this loophole.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
That on-the-ground mosquito control work, which has been carried out in a growing number of states and municipalities across the country over the past century, is vital.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
With the spread finally being contained, more than half of the 224,000 people evacuated have been able to return to their homes in 12 municipalities from the northwest to the south of Bordeaux.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
It begins with shock, followed by rage—because cruising ahead of her is a water supply truck owned by one of the various underperforming water municipalities.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
