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metropolis

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me⋅trop⋅o⋅lis

  [mi-trop-uh-lis]
Use metropolis in a Sentence
–noun, plural -lis⋅es.
1. any large, busy city.
2. the chief, and sometimes capital, city of a country, state, or region.
3. a central or principal place, as of some activity: the music metropolis of France.
4. the mother city or parent state of a colony, esp. of an ancient Greek colony.
5. the chief see of an ecclesiastical province.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME < LL mētropolis < Gk mētrópolis a mother state or city, equiv. to mētro-, comb. form of mtēr mother + pólis -polis, polis
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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me·trop·o·lis   (mĭ-trŏp'ə-lĭs)   
n.  

  1. A major city, especially the chief city of a country or region: Chicago, the metropolis of the Midwest.

  2. A city or an urban area regarded as the center of a specific activity: a great cultural metropolis.

  3. Ecclesiastical The chief see of a metropolitan bishop.

  4. The mother city or country of an overseas colony, especially in ancient Greece.


[Middle English metropol, from Late Latin mētropolis, mother-city, from Greek : mētēr, mētr-, mother; see māter- in Indo-European roots + polis, city; see pelə-3 in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

metropolis 
"seat of a metropolitan bishop," 1535, see metropolitan. Meaning "chief town or capital city of a province" is first attested 1590.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia

metropolis

a major city together with its suburbs and nearby cities, towns, and environs over which the major city exercises a commanding economic and social influence. Literally construed, metropolis from the Greek means "mother city," and by implication there are progeny or dependents scattered about the core area. Sometimes there may be two or more major cities, as in the Tokyo-Yokohama Metropolitan Area (Japan) or an agglomeration of metropolitan boroughs as in Greater London (England). The U.S. Census employs a unit called a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) which includes either (1) a city with a population of at least 50,000 or (2) an urbanized area of at least 50,000 population with a total metropolitan population of at least 100,000 (75,000 in New England). An urbanized area is defined as having a population of at least 50,000, and a population density of at least 1,000 per square mile.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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