metropolitan

American  

[me-truh-pol-i-tn] / ˌmɛ trəˈpɒl ɪ 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.

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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 British  

/ 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

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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

• 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

"Running around on these things in densely packed metropolitan areas? It would be mental."

From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026

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.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026

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 • Mar. 28, 2026

In metropolitan Denmark, polling stations close at 8:00 pm, with exit polls expected to be published just after.

From Barron's • Mar. 24, 2026

With the remaining insurance money Milton rented space in three malls in the Detroit metropolitan area.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

Related Words

• cosmopolitan
• urban
• urbane