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• polis
  polis

  noun

  an ancient Greek city-state.
• -polis
  -polis

  a combining form, meaning “city,” appearing in loanwords from Greek (metropolis ), and used in the formation of placenames (Annapolis ).

polis

¹ American  

[poh-lis] / ˈpoʊ lɪs /

noun

• poleis
  plural

1. an ancient Greek city-state.

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-polis ² American  

1. a combining form, meaning “city,” appearing in loanwords from Greek (metropolis ), and used in the formation of placenames (Annapolis ).

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polis ¹ British  

/ ˈpɒlɪs /

noun

1. an ancient Greek city-state

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polis ² British  

/ ˈpolɪs /

noun

1. the police or a police officer

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Usage

What does -polis mean? The combining form -polis is used like a suffix meaning “city.” It is occasionally used in technical terms. The form -polis comes from Greek pólis, meaning “city.”

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• poleis
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of polis¹

1890–95; < Greek pólis, plural (Ionic) póleis

Origin of -polis²

Combining form representing Greek pólis polis

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Explanation

In ancient Greece, a polis was a completely independent, self-governing city. Each polis had an urban center with shopping areas, temples, and government buildings. A Greek polis was composed of territory that included a dense city, usually surrounded by protective walls, and the countryside around it. A temple near the center was often set on a high hill. The whole country was divided into these city-states; at the height of this era, there were about 1,000 poleis. Among the most famous were Athens and Sparta. The Greek polis means "citadel, city, or community," from a root meaning "citadel or hilltop."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

polis poleis

Creon, representing the claims of the polis over the clan, cannot be dismissed outright.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Playwrights addressed the polis not by dramatizing current events but by recasting tales from the mythological and historic past to sharpen critical thinking on contemporary concerns.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2025

They were woven into the fabric of a democratic polis.

From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2025

Now protected by their own walls, and in possession of all the civic tools needed to form their own polis, the Helots were liberated from Spartan tyranny at long last.

From Slate ● Jan. 16, 2024

Sometimes the polis plunge in and arrest the job-hunters they can catch, to send them home.

From "Beast Rider" by Tony Johnston & María Elena Fontanot de Rhoads

Greek colonies far from Greece were as important as the older poleis in Greece itself, since they created a common Greek civilization across the entire Mediterranean world.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020

Open war finally broke out between the two cities in 431 BCE after two of their respective allied poleis started a conflict and Athens tried to influence the political decisions of Spartan allies.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020

Wars were temporarily suspended and all Greek poleis agreed to let athletes travel with safe passage to take part in the games, in part because the Olympics were dedicated to Zeus, the chief Greek god.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020

In 499 BCE several Ionian Greek poleis rose against the Persians and success-fully secured Athenian aid.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2019

The Hellenic municipalities were developments from the poleis, or city-states, which existed prior to the Roman conquest in Greece and the Hellenized areas of Asia and Africa.

From A History of Rome to 565 A. D. by Arthur Edward Romilly Boak

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Related Words

• capital
• center
• downtown
• metropolis
• municipality
• place
• port

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