metropolitan
Americanadjective
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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.
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of or relating to a large city, its surrounding suburbs, and other neighboring communities.
the New York metropolitan area.
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pertaining to or constituting a mother country.
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pertaining to an ecclesiastical metropolis.
noun
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an inhabitant of a metropolis.
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a person who has the sophistication, fashionable taste, or other habits and manners associated with those who live in a metropolis.
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Eastern Church. the head of an ecclesiastical province.
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an archbishop in the Church of England.
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Roman Catholic Church. an archbishop who has authority over one or more suffragan sees.
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(in ancient Greece) a citizen of the mother city or parent state of a colony.
adjective
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of or characteristic of a metropolis
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constituting a city and its suburbs
the metropolitan area
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of, relating to, or designating an ecclesiastical metropolis
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of or belonging to the home territories of a country, as opposed to overseas territories
metropolitan France
noun
Other Word Forms
- intermetropolitan adjective
- metropolitanism noun
- nonmetropolitan adjective
- supermetropolitan adjective
- unmetropolitan adjective
Etymology
Origin of metropolitan
1300–50; Middle English < Late Latin mētropolītānus of, belonging to a metropolis < Greek mētropolī́t ( ēs ) ( metropolis, -ite 1 ) + Latin -ānus -an
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Instead, some developers are training their sights on smaller metropolitan areas and more rural regions—such as Wyoming.
Data on Tuesday showed that consumer prices in the Tokyo metropolitan area—excluding fresh food—rose 1.7% in March from a year earlier, slightly slower than February’s 1.8% increase.
Of the nation’s 10 fastest-growing metropolitan areas in 2025, nine had more homes for sale than before the pandemic, a Barron’s analysis of Realtor.com and government data suggest.
From Barron's
But the scale of the demonstrations — stretching from major international metropolitan hubs to small towns in rural America — signals a level of mobilization that is increasingly difficult to ignore.
From Salon
And ask any Chicago White Sox fan if playing in a large metropolitan area guarantees success.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
