Definition of conurbation
: an aggregation or continuous network of urban communities
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Examples of conurbation in a Sentence
a conurbation of cities along the river
Recent Examples of conurbation from the Web
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This isn’t an entirely new thing; most German conurbations already have Umwelt (environmental) zones that bar cars incapable of passing the Euro 4 emissions test from entering them without risk of a sizable fine.
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In Montana, 20 miles or so off Highway 90, lies the minuscule conurbation of Wilsall, population 178 as of 2010.
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The Phoenix-Scottsdale-Tempe conurbation photographed from the International Space Station in 2006.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'conurbation.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
When Sir Patrick Geddes, a Scottish biologist turned sociologist, sat down in 1915 to write Cities in Evolution, a work on urban planning, he needed a word. How should he refer to thickly populated regions consisting of a sprawling range of cities clustered together? "Some name, then, for these city-regions, these town aggregates, is wanted…. What of 'conurbations'?" he asked rhetorically early on in his work. For his coinage, Geddes combined urbs (the Latin word for "city," already familiar in urban and suburb) with the Latin prefix con- ("together") and the English noun suffix -ation. It turned out that his word suited English speakers just fine-we've been using it ever since.
Origin and Etymology of conurbation
com- + Latin urb-, urbs city
CONURBATION Defined for English Language Learners
Definition of conurbation for English Language Learners
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: a large area consisting of cities or towns that have grown so that there is very little room between them
Learn More about conurbation
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See words that rhyme with conurbation Britannica English: Translation of conurbation for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about conurbation
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