metropolis

noun

me·​trop·​o·​lis mə-ˈträ-p(ə-)ləs How to pronounce metropolis (audio)
1
: the chief or capital city of a country, state, or region
2
: the city or state of origin of a colony (as of ancient Greece)
3
a
: a city regarded as a center of a specified activity
an industrial metropolis
a cattle metropolis
b
: a large important city
one of Europe's great metropolises

Examples of metropolis in a Sentence

a big, teeming metropolis where ambitious people from all over come to make their mark
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
As if the year of the dragon wasn’t finished with us, January 2025 in Los Angeles brought the kind of sudden devastation that could force a postapocalyptic metropolis such as this to reacquaint itself with God, only to declare God dead again as existential crisis demands. Harmony Holiday, Los Angeles Times, 2 Feb. 2025 Well, nobody is immune to a little fantasy now and then, least of all in a corporatized metropolis like Chongqing, whose streets are lit by neon signs that advertise a life these men can’t even afford to imagine for themselves. David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 24 Jan. 2025 In the era when American cities regularly caught fire, the widespread destruction seeded what looks, in retrospect, like possibility. Chicago after the Great Fire of 1871 accelerated its rise as a dominant metropolis. Emily Badger, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2025 Delta will launch a new flight to the desert metropolis of Las Vegas from Southern California’s John Wayne airport on Jan. 2. Edward Russell, Travel + Leisure, 3 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for metropolis 

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Late Latin, from Greek mētropolis, from mētr-, mētēr mother + polis city — more at mother, police entry 1

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of metropolis was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near metropolis

Cite this Entry

“Metropolis.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metropolis. Accessed 14 Feb. 2025.

Kids Definition

metropolis

noun
me·​trop·​o·​lis mə-ˈträp-(ə-)ləs How to pronounce metropolis (audio)
1
: the chief or capital city of a country, state, or region
2
: a large important city

More from Merriam-Webster on metropolis

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