metropolitan

[me-truh-pol-i-tn]

adjective

1. of, noting, or characteristic of a metropolis or its inhabitants, especially in culture, sophistication, or in accepting and combining a wide variety of people, ideas, etc.

2. of or relating to a large city, its surrounding suburbs, and other neighboring communities.

   the New York metropolitan area.

3. pertaining to or constituting a mother country.

4. pertaining to an ecclesiastical metropolis.

noun

1. an inhabitant of a metropolis.

2. a person who has the sophistication, fashionable taste, or other habits and manners associated with those who live in a metropolis.

3. Eastern Church.,  the head of an ecclesiastical province.

4. an archbishop in the Church of England.

5. Roman Catholic Church.,  an archbishop who has authority over one or more suffragan sees.

6. (in ancient Greece) a citizen of the mother city or parent state of a colony.

metropolitan

/ ˌmɛtrəˈpɒlɪtən /

adjective

1. of or characteristic of a metropolis

2. constituting a city and its suburbs

   the metropolitan area

3. of, relating to, or designating an ecclesiastical metropolis

4. of or belonging to the home territories of a country, as opposed to overseas territories

   metropolitan France

noun

1. 1. Eastern Churches the head of an ecclesiastical province, ranking between archbishop and patriarch

   2. Church of England an archbishop

   3. RC Church an archbishop or bishop having authority in certain matters over the dioceses in his province

Other Word Forms

• metropolitanism noun
• intermetropolitan adjective
• nonmetropolitan adjective
• supermetropolitan adjective
• unmetropolitan adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of metropolitan¹

1300–50; Middle English < Late Latin mētropolītānus of, belonging to a metropolis < Greek mētropolī́t ( ēs ) ( metropolis, -ite ¹ ) + Latin -ānus -an

Example Sentences

The still-bustling metropolitan area is the second largest in the Midwest, with a thriving music scene, urban parks, automotive history, and, of course, great food, so there’s plenty for visitors to eat, do, and see.

From Salon

Three others are designed to dilute Democratic votes in three of the state’s largest metropolitan areas, potentially flipping one district from blue to red in Austin, in greater Houston and in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

From Salon

Ohio, West Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee each have at least one metropolitan area with more crime than D.C.

From Salon

In 2024, there were 880 models employed in California, with most of those jobs in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, including Anaheim and Long Beach, according to the U.S.

From Los Angeles Times

The actor leads this Netflix comedy about a family of Greek gods set in a modern, metropolitan Crete, or Krete, in this case.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• cosmopolitan 
• urban 
• urbane