CITY

(LARGE PLACE) [noun] [C] - a place in which there are many houses, shops, places of work, places of entertainment, places of worship etc., and which is bigger than a townMany of the world's cities have populations of more than 5 million.Wellington is the capital city (= centre of government) of New Zealand.City life doesn't suit me - I prefer the country.When their team won the European Cup, the whole city was (= all the people in the city were) on the streets to welcome the footballers home.In the UK, a city is also any town which has a cathedral.The city of Ely has about 10,000 inhabitants.(UK and ANZ) The city centre is the central part of a city.It's impossible to park in the city centre.The new out-of-town supermarket will take business away from city-centre shops. Compare downtown.The city council is the local government of a city.City councillors are people who form the local government of a city.(dated) The city fathers are members of the governing group of a city.(esp. US) A city hall is a building used as offices by people working for a city government.The nicest buildings in the city are the Federal Court House and the City Hall.Compare town hall at town.(esp. US) City Hall also refers to the government of a city.You will have to apply to City Hall for a building permit.(informal disapproving) A city slicker is a person who knows how to deal with the problems of living in city and who pretends to know more about fashion and culture than people who live in the countryside.A city-state in the ancient world was a city and the area around it which had an independent government.Rome, Carthage and Athens were some of the great city-states of the ancient world.