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Synonyms

metropolitan

American  
[me-truh-pol-i-tn] / ˌmɛ trəˈpɒl ɪ tn /

adjective

  1. of, noting, or characteristic of a metropolis or its inhabitants, especially in culture, sophistication, or in accepting and combining a wide variety of people, ideas, etc.

  2. of or relating to a large city, its surrounding suburbs, and other neighboring communities.

    the New York metropolitan area.

  3. pertaining to or constituting a mother country.

  4. pertaining to an ecclesiastical metropolis.


noun

  1. an inhabitant of a metropolis.

  2. a person who has the sophistication, fashionable taste, or other habits and manners associated with those who live in a metropolis.

  3. Eastern Church. the head of an ecclesiastical province.

  4. an archbishop in the Church of England.

  5. Roman Catholic Church. an archbishop who has authority over one or more suffragan sees.

  6. (in ancient Greece) a citizen of the mother city or parent state of a colony.

metropolitan British  
/ ˌmɛtrəˈpɒlɪtən /

adjective

  1. of or characteristic of a metropolis

  2. constituting a city and its suburbs

    the metropolitan area

  3. of, relating to, or designating an ecclesiastical metropolis

  4. of or belonging to the home territories of a country, as opposed to overseas territories

    metropolitan France

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

    1. Eastern Churches the head of an ecclesiastical province, ranking between archbishop and patriarch

    2. Church of England an archbishop

    3. RC Church an archbishop or bishop having authority in certain matters over the dioceses in his province

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • intermetropolitan adjective
  • metropolitanism noun
  • nonmetropolitan adjective
  • supermetropolitan adjective
  • unmetropolitan adjective

Etymology

Origin of metropolitan

1300–50; Middle English < Late Latin mētropolītānus of, belonging to a metropolis < Greek mētropolī́t ( ēs ) ( metropolis, -ite 1 ) + Latin -ānus -an

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.

Excluding fresh food, consumer prices in the Tokyo metropolitan area rose 1.8% in February from a year earlier, compared with the 2.0% increase seen in January.

From The Wall Street Journal

The metropolitan area of 42 million is sinking, partly due to groundwater extraction.

From Barron's

This week, those vacationing at all-inclusive resorts outside of the major metropolitan areas in Puerto Vallarta largely experienced business as usual, Lee said, based on reports from clients in Mexico.

From The Wall Street Journal

UC Riverside, in a larger metropolitan area, also dropped football long ago but jumped into Division I and the Big West Conference for its sports in 2000.

From Los Angeles Times

More than half of the cases come from Guadalajara's metropolitan area.

From Barron's