metropolis

noun

me·​trop·​o·​lis mə-ˈträ-p(ə-)ləs 

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

Synonyms

• city
• town

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

So, any Gotham within a contemporary film in the Batman series that's going to be authentic has to be reflective of a modern American metropolis. —EW.com, 3 Sep. 2025

About 120 miles west of London, just over an hour by train, lies Bristol—a vast metropolis that made Afar’s annual Where to Go list in 2022. —Lottie Gross, AFAR Media, 29 Aug. 2025

The Cycle of Love rewinds to the mid-1970s when Mahanandia first met Lotta Von Schedvin who was visiting the metropolis of Delhi in Northern India. —Matthew Carey, Deadline, 28 Aug. 2025

Here, the lights along the river show the urban development along its banks, from Minya to New Bani Sewf City, ending in the glowing metropolis of Cairo at the Nile delta. —Kenna Hughes-Castleberry, Space.com, 26 Aug. 2025

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

Rhymes for metropolis

• acropolis
• monopolise
• necropolis
• megalopolis
• propolis

Kids Definition

metropolis

noun

me·​trop·​o·​lis mə-ˈträp-(ə-)ləs 

1

: the chief or capital city of a country, state, or region

2

: a large important city