metropolis

plural metropolises · plural metropoleis · plural metropoles · plural metropolizes · plural metropoli · obsolete plural metropolisses · obsolete plural metropolis's

1. especially Ancient GreecehistoryThe mother (founding) polis (city state) of a colony.

   Colonies certainly did not become "clones" of their metropolises, but it is equally false that their colonial heritages were not influenced by the organization of the metropolises.

   2010, James Mahoney, Colonialism and Postcolonial Development: Spanish America in Comparative Perspective

   Synonyms: mother city, metropole

2. A large, busy city, especially as the main city in an area or country or as distinguished from surrounding rural areas.

   Holonym: metropolitan area

   4 more examples

   An immense metropolis, like London, is calculated to make men selfish and uninteresting.

   1819, Washington Irving, The Sketch Book, Rural Life in England

   [I]t would not be very much less absurd for someone to write about New York City after having spent only a few years or a few decades in this metropolis of inexhaustible adventure, of terrifying emotional fecundity, of uncapturable character.

   1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 52

   Love is dead in metropolis / All contact through glove or partition

   1983, “Sleeper in Metropolis”, in Changing Places, performed by Anne Clark

   They call me the Hiphopopotamus / Flows that glow like phosphorous / Popping off the top of this esophagus / Rocking this metropolis

   2008, “Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros”, performed by Flight of the Conchords

   Synonyms: metropolitan city

3. Orthodox ChristianityThe see of a metropolitan bishop, ranking above its suffragan diocesan bishops.

   Synonyms: archbishopric

4. biologyA generic focus in the distribution of plants or animals.

1. A city, the county seat of Massac County, Illinois, United States.
2. A ghost town in Elko County, Nevada, United States.
3. A classical city site in Anatolia (Turkey).
4. fictionA fictional city serving as the primary setting for the Superman franchise, published by DC Comics.

   My city need a hero, so I treat it like Metropolis / And it's a few bad Lois Lanes I can't name

   2012, “Higher”, in Detroit, performed by Big Sean

5. Nickname for New York City: a major city in New York, United States.

1. EnglanddatedNickname for London: the capital city of the United Kingdom; the capital city of England, within Greater London.

   The journey from our town to the metropolis, was a journey of about five hours.

   1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter I, in Great Expectations […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 1