mə̇.ˈträp(ə)lə̇s, meˈ- noun
( -es )
Etymology: Late Latin, mother city, from Greek mētropolis, from mētr-, mētēr mother + -o- + polis city — more at mother , police
1. : a metropolitan see
2. : the mother city or state of a colony (as of ancient Greece) : mother country
3.
a. : the chief town or city of a country or other land area : capital
the metropolis of the valley
b. : a city regarded as the center of a particular activity
a lumber metropolis
a cattle metropolis
c. : city ; especially : an important city
the world's great metropolises — P.E.James
the boom spirit which saw in every village a future metropolis — G.R.Stewart
4. : a region where a particular kind of organism (as a variety or species) is most abundant