metropolitan

Relating to a large city and the surrounding area.

• They live in a metropolitan area.
• The metropolitan region has excellent public transport.
• Housing costs are rising across the metropolitan districts.

Similar words: urban

Opposites: rural

Common phrases: metropolitan area, metropolitan region, metropolitan population

Relating to a country’s main territory rather than its colonies or overseas areas.

• The law applies in metropolitan France.
• Goods were sent from the colony to metropolitan ports.
• The metropolitan government controlled trade with its overseas territories.

Common phrases: metropolitan France, metropolitan territory, metropolitan government

Relating to a senior bishop’s church or the area under that bishop’s authority.

• The service took place in the metropolitan cathedral.
• The bishops discussed matters affecting the metropolitan province.
• He held authority over the metropolitan see.

Common phrases: metropolitan see, metropolitan cathedral, metropolitan province

A senior Christian religious leader responsible for other bishops in an area.

• The metropolitan visited the church.
• A new metropolitan was appointed last year.
• The bishops met with their metropolitan.

How to use it: metropolitan of somewhere (He became metropolitan of the province.)

Similar words: archbishop

Common phrases: metropolitan of something, orthodox metropolitan, new metropolitan

A person who lives in a very large city.

• She was a metropolitan by birth.
• These metropolitans rarely visited the countryside.
• The exhibition attracted fashionable metropolitans from the capital.

Similar words: city dweller

Common phrases: wealthy metropolitan, young metropolitan, fashionable metropolitan