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 ) ( see 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 company, which spun out of Uber’s Postmates in 2021, has expanded to six metropolitan areas covering 20 cities nationally, Ali Kashani, Serve’s chief executive, told The Times.

From Los Angeles Times • May 5, 2026

Patients face an average wait of 31 days to secure a new doctor’s appointment, according to AMN Healthcare’s 2025 Survey of Physician Appointment Wait Times, which covers major metropolitan areas.

From MarketWatch • May 1, 2026

More than half of major U.S. metropolitan markets posted year-over-year price declines in February, signaling a broader slowdown.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026

In England, providing adult social care is the responsibility of unitary authorities, metropolitan district councils, county councils and London borough councils.

From BBC • Apr. 28, 2026

Jesse couldn’t have found a less appropriate community if he’d asked AltaVista: “What’s the worst place in the greater Chicago metropolitan area for two nineteen-year-old lads from Idaho to live?”

From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz

Related Words

• cosmopolitan
• urban
• urbane