# metropolis
## English
### Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin mētropolis, from Ancient Greek μητρόπολις (mētrópolis, “mother city”), from μήτηρ (mḗtēr, “mother”) + πόλις (pólis, “city (state)”). By surface analysis, metro- +‎ -polis. Doublet of metropole.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /mɪˈtɹɒpəlɪs/
* (General American) IPA: /məˈtɹɑpəlɪs/
* (weak vowel merger) IPA: /məˈtɹɑpələs/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɒpəlɪs
* Hyphenation: me‧tro‧po‧lis

### Noun

metropolis (plural metropolises or metropoleis or metropoles or metropolizes or metropoli or (obsolete) metropolisses or (obsolete) metropolis's)
* (history, especially Ancient Greece) The mother (founding) polis (city state) of a colony.
    Synonyms: mother city, metropole
** 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.
* A large, busy city, especially as the main city in an area or country or as distinguished from surrounding rural areas.
    Synonym: metropolitan city
    Hyponyms: megacity, megalopolis
    Holonym: metropolitan area
    Coordinate term: capital city
** 1819, Washington Irving, The Sketch Book, Rural Life in England:An immense metropolis, like London, is calculated to make men selfish and uninteresting.
** 1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 52:[I]t would not be very much less absurd for someone to write about New York City after having spent only a few years or a few decades in this metropolis of inexhaustible adventure, of terrifying emotional fecundity, of uncapturable character.
** 1983, “Sleeper in Metropolis”, in Changing Places, performed by Anne Clark:Love is dead in metropolis / All contact through glove or partition
** 2008, “Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros”, performed by Flight of the Conchords:They call me the Hiphopopotamus / Flows that glow like phosphorous / Popping off the top of this esophagus / Rocking this metropolis
* (Orthodox Christianity) The see of a metropolitan bishop, ranking above its suffragan diocesan bishops.
    Synonym: archbishopric
* (ecology) A generic focus in the distribution of plants or animals.

#### Derived terms

* metro
* metropole
* Metropolis
* metropolitan

#### Related terms

* megalopolis
* regiopolis

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### References

* 1 2 The Concise Oxford English Dictionary [Eleventh Edition]
* ↑ “metropolis”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

### Anagrams

* simple root

## Dutch
### 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)
* metropolis

#### Synonyms

* metropool

#### Related terms

* metropoliet
* metropolitaans

## Indonesian
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Indonesian) IPA: /mɛtroˈpolis/ [mɛ.t̪roˈpo.lɪs]
* Rhymes: -olis
* Syllabification: me‧tro‧po‧lis

### Noun

metropolis (plural metropolis-metropolis)
* (history, especially Ancient Greece) metropolis (colony’s mother city)
* (urban studies) metropolis (large, busy city)
* (Orthodox Christianity) metropolis (see of a metropolitan bishop, ranking above its suffragan diocesan bishops)

#### Derived terms

* metropolis bintang
* metropolis cincin
* metropolis futuristik
* metropolis galaktika
* metropolis memusat

### Further reading

* “metropolis” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

## Latin
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /meːˈtro.po.lis/, [meːˈt̪rɔpɔlʲɪs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /meˈtro.po.lis/, [meˈt̪rɔːpolis]

### Noun

mētropolis f (genitive mētropolis or mētropoleōs or mētropolios); third declension
* metropolis

#### Declension

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, i-stem, i-stem).
$^1$Found sometimes in Medieval and New Latin. The accusative singular mētropolem and the ablative singular mētropole occur in Medieval and New Latin.

#### Derived terms

* mētropolītānus

#### Related terms

* Mētropolis

#### Descendants

* Catalan: metròpoli
* French: métropole
* Italian: metropoli
* Piedmontese: metròpol
* Portuguese: metrópole
* Spanish: metrópoli
* English: metropolis, metropole
* German: Metropolis

#### See also

* māter

### 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 with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 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

## Middle English
### Noun

metropolis
* plural of metropol

## Serbo-Croatian
### Noun

metròpolis m (Cyrillic spelling метро̀полис)
* A metropolis