municipality
Americannoun
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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
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.
On display from Statia, now a special municipality of the Netherlands, is a massive late-17th- or 18th-century cannon, which could conceivably have fired the historic salute.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 6, 2026
Between 2017 and 2021, Torrance dealers sold the third-most crime guns later recovered in Los Angeles of any municipality in the nation, The Times reported.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2026
The municipality is seeking guarantees on timing, compensation and conditions before agreeing to anything.
From BBC • Apr. 12, 2026
The municipality have identified two young men who'll be coming to Germany later this year to work as kindergarten teachers.
From BBC • Mar. 22, 2026
An engineer from the Ettumanoor municipality was supervising the disposal of the carcass.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
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.
