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.

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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

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noun

1. 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

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

Explanation

The adjective metropolitan describes something that's characteristic of a city. You really enjoy metropolitan life — there's always something happening, and you can walk or take the subway anywhere you want to go. The word metropolitan comes from metropolis, which in Greek means mother city, made up of mētēr meaning mother, and polis meaning city. A person who lives in a metropolis, or city, is also called a metropolitan. You may have loved cities even when you were growing up in the suburbs, looking forward to the day you could become a true metropolitan in the biggest city you could find.

Example Sentences

The closest metropolitan area, Ahmedabad, is about an hour away.

From Barron's • Apr. 9, 2026

But the scale of the demonstrations — stretching from major international metropolitan hubs to small towns in rural America — signals a level of mobilization that is increasingly difficult to ignore.

From Salon • Mar. 28, 2026

And ask any Chicago White Sox fan if playing in a large metropolitan area guarantees success.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

They are standing for a mixture of district, metropolitan, unitary and county councils.

From BBC • Mar. 24, 2026

The Mexican consulate, which serves the metropolitan region, has issued more than 500,000 ID cards just since 2001.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

Related Words

• cosmopolitan
• urban
• urbane