metropolis

Etymology

First attested in Middle English: from Late Latin mētropolis, from Ancient Greek μητρόπολις (mētrópolis, “mother city”), from μήτηρ (mḗtēr, “mother”) + πόλις (pólis, “city (state)”).^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /mɪˈtɹɒpəlɪs/^[1]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

metropolis (plural metropolises or metropoleis)

1. (historical) The mother (founding) polis (city state) of a colony, especially in the Hellenistic world.
   1. The mother country of a colony.
      • 2010, James Mahoney, Colonialism and Postcolonial Development: Spanish America in Comparative Perspective:

        Colonies certainly did not become "clones" of their metropolises, but it is equally false that their colonial heritages were not influenced by the organization of the metropolises.

2. A large, busy city, especially as the main city in an area or country or as distinguished from surrounding rural areas.
   • 1819, Washington Irving, The Sketch Book, Rural Life in England:

     An immense metropolis, like London, is calculated to make men selfish and uninteresting.

3. (canon law) The see of a metropolitan archbishop, ranking above its suffragan diocesan bishops.

See also

• capital city

References

Etymology

From Latin mētropolis, from Ancient Greek μητρόπολις (mētrópolis, “mother city”).

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: me‧tro‧po‧lis

Noun

metropolis f (plural metropolissen, diminutive metropolisje n)

1. metropolis

Etymology

Late Latin, from Ancient Greek μητρόπολις (mētrópolis, “a city or mother state”), from μητρο- (mētro-, “mother-”) + πόλις (pólis, “city”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /meːˈtro.po.lis/, [meːˈtrɔ.pɔ.lɪs]

Noun

mētropolis f (genitive mētropolis); third declension

1. metropolis

References

• metropolis in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• metropolis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette, page 974
• metropolis in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• metropolis in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• metropolis in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
• metropolis in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
  colonia in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Noun

metròpolis m (Cyrillic spelling метро̀полис)

1. A metropolis

Noun

metropolis

1. plural of metropoli