metropolitan
pronunciation
How to pronounce metropolitan in British English:
UK [ˌmetrəˈpɒlɪtən]
How to pronounce metropolitan in American English:
US [ˌmetrəˈpɑːlɪtən]
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- Noun:
- in the Eastern Orthodox Church this title is given to a position between bishop and patriarch; equivalent to archbishop in western Christianity
- a person who lives in a metropolis
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- Adjective:
- relating to or characteristic of a metropolis
Word Origin
- metropolitan (n.)
- early 15c., "bishop having oversight of other bishops," from Late Latin metropolitanus, from Greek metropolis "mother city" (from which others have been colonized), also "capital city," from meter "mother" (see mother (n.1)) + polis "city" (see polis). In Greek, "parent state of a colony;" later, "see of a metropolitan bishop." In the West, the position now roughly corresponds to archbishop, but in the Greek church it ranks above it.
- metropolitan (adj.)
- 1540s, "belonging to an ecclesiastical metropolis," from Late Latin metropolitanus, from Greek metropolites "resident of a city," from metropolis (see metropolitan (n.)). Meaning "belonging to a chief or capital city" is from 1550s. In reference to underground city railways, it is attested from 1867.
Example
- 1. New schemes would ease congestion in metropolitan areas and freight networks .
- 2. Those farther out from metropolitan areas may be less focused on or concerned with such community development .
- 3. In metropolitan areas informality rose sharply between 1992 and 2005 even as it fell nationally .
- 4. The transport secretary says he would send more money to metropolitan areas and use cost-benefit analyses to guide investment .
- 5. We 're at a point now where we have major metropolitan areas in the u. s.without a solvent daily newspaper .