metropolis

noun

me·trop·o·lis | \ mə-ˈträ-p(ə-)ləs

Definition of metropolis

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)

3a : 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 More Example Sentences Learn More about metropolis

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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

According to the trailer’s description, in Weird City, the middle class has completely disappeared, leaving the metropolis divided in two: those Above the Line (known as The Haves) and those Below the Line (known as The Have Nots). — Sara Delgado, Teen Vogue, "Dylan O'Brien and Auli'i Cravalho's New Show "Weird City" Has Its First Trailer," 10 Jan. 2019 In Chicago, the city council’s transportation-committee chairman has vowed to block self-driving cars from operating in the nation’s third-largest metropolis, citing safety concerns and the potential for displacing taxi drivers and other jobs. — Tim Higgins, WSJ, "Self-Driving Cars Encounter Political Roadblocks," 19 Nov. 2018 America’s premier metropolises have also seen declines. — Evan Horowitz, BostonGlobe.com, "Even fishing and coal mining are not losing jobs as fast as the newspaper industry," 3 July 2018 Witness sprawling metropolises boom further and further skyward, a world away from picturesque countryside villages home to minority cultures. — Mei Zhang, Town & Country, "How to Plan a Trip to China," 5 Oct. 2016 In recent years, southern cities like Charleston, Savannah, Austin, and Houston have been on the radar for domestic travel, taking the place of chic metropolises like Los Angeles, Miami, and New York City. — Carrie Goldberg, Harper's BAZAAR, "The 19 Best Places to Travel in 2019," 10 Jan. 2019 As major metropolises from New York City to San Francisco have pushed for home-sharing regulations ranging from licensing ordinances to effective bans, Goldwater has taken the opposing side. — Colin Lecher, The Verge, "How conservative ‘property rights’ groups are battling cites’ Airbnb rules," 14 Aug. 2018 Now, as dust kicks up from Mono Lake, authorities in the Eastern Sierra are once again blaming that water-craving metropolis about 350 miles to the south. — Louis Sahagun, latimes.com, "A changing climate at Mono Lake could mean more dust storms in the Eastern Sierra — or less water for L.A.," 5 July 2018 When Europe stumbles into the Dark and Middle ages, Chinese cities with populations of 750,000 to a million people take over and don't lose the record until London becomes an enormous metropolis in 1800. — Andrew Moseman, Popular Mechanics, "One GIF Shows How the World's Biggest City Shifted Throughout History," 22 Dec. 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'metropolis.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.