metropolitan definition | Dictionary.com

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Synonyms of metropolitan

municipal, urban, bishop, city, cosmopolitan,

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6 dictionary results for: metropolitan

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

met·ro·pol·i·tan

[me-truh-pol-i-tn] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

1.	of, noting, or characteristic of a metropolis or its inhabitants, esp. in culture, sophistication, or in accepting and combining a wide variety of people, ideas, etc.

2.	of or pertaining 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.

–noun

5.	an inhabitant of a metropolis.

6.	a person who has the sophistication, fashionable taste, or other habits and manners associated with those who live in a metropolis.

7.	Eastern Church. the head of an ecclesiastical province.

8.	an archbishop in the Church of England.

9.	Roman Catholic Church. an archbishop who has authority over one or more suffragan sees.

10.	(in ancient Greece) a citizen of the mother city or parent state of a colony.

[Origin: 1300–50; ME < LL métropolītānus of, belonging to a metropolis < Gk métropolt(és) (see metropolis, -ite¹) + L -ānus -an

]

—Related forms

met·ro·pol·i·tan·ism, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

met·ro·pol·i·tan (mět'rə-pŏl'ĭ-tən) Pronunciation Key
adj.

1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a major city: crowded metropolitan streets; a metropolitan newspaper.
2. Of or constituting a large city or urbanized area, including adjacent suburbs and towns: the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area; a metropolitan county.
Of, relating to, or constituting the home territory of an imperial or colonial state.
Of or relating to an ecclesiastical metropolitan.

A citizen of a metropolis, especially one who displays urbane characteristics, attitudes, and values.
1. In the Western Christian churches, a bishop with provincial powers, with some authority over suffragan bishops.
2. Eastern Orthodox Church A bishop who is head of an ecclesiastical province and ranks next below the patriarch.

[Middle English, of a metropolitan bishop, from Late Latin mētropolītānus, metropolitan, from Greek mētropolītēs, citizen of a metropolis, from mētropolis, mother city; see metropolis.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
metropolitan

1432, as a noun, "bishop having oversight of other bishops," from L.L. metropolitanus, from Gk. metropolis "mother city" (from which others have been colonized), from meter "mother" + polis "city" (see policy (1)). In Gk., "parent state of a colony;" later, "see of a metropolitan bishop." In the West, the position now roughly corresponds to archbishop, but in the Gk. church it ranks above it. In Eng., the adj. sense of "belonging to an ecclesiastical metropolis" is from 1548; that of "belonging to a chief or capital city" is from 1555. In ref. to underground city railways, it is attested from 1867.

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

metropolitan
adjective
1.	relating to or characteristic of a metropolis; "metropolitan area"
noun
1.	in the Eastern Orthodox Church this title is given to a position between bishop and patriarch; equivalent to archbishop in western Christianity
2.	a person who lives in a metropolis

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Metropolitan

Met`ro*pol"i*tan\ (?; 277), a. [L. metropolitanus: cf. F. m['e]tropolitain.]

1. Of or pertaining to the capital or principal city of a country; as, metropolitan luxury.

2. (Eccl.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, a metropolitan or the presiding bishop of a country or province, his office, or his dignity; as, metropolitan authority. "Bishops metropolitan." --Sir T. More.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Metropolitan

Met`ro*pol"i*tan\, n. [LL. metropolitanus.]

1. The superior or presiding bishop of a country or province.

2. (Lat. Church.) An archbishop.

3. (Gr. Church) A bishop whose see is civil metropolis. His rank is intermediate between that of an archbishop and a patriarch. --Hook.

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