Word.ws English Dictionary

ecumenopolitan

UK/ɛˌkjuːmɛnəʊˈpɒlɪtən/

ecumenopolitan adjective: of or conducive to the development, befitting the scale, or characteristic of an ecumenopolis or ecumenopoleis.

Adjective (1)

ecumenopolitan (not comparable)

  1. Of or conducive to the development, befitting the scale, or characteristic of an ecumenopolis or ecumenopoleis.
    • […] “ecumenopolitan” formations.1971: The Mastery of Urban Growth: Report of the International Colloquium, Brussels, 2–4 December 1969, page 47 (Mens en ruimte, M. plus R international)
    • Certainly the magnitude of megalopolitan or ecumenopolitan problems tends to overwhelm the individual who is a perspective participant.1974, Spenser W. Havlick, The Urban Organism: The City’s Natural Resources from an Environmental Perspective, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 476, →ISBN

Noun (1)

ecumenopolitan (plural ecumenopolitans)

  1. An inhabitant of an ecumenopolis, especially one actively involved in its political arena.
    • The danger of this pattern is of course that the ecumenopolitan becomes spread very thin among various roles and locations. As a citizen of the world we see more of the whole picture but become frustrated in trying to find where the need is greatest so we can “plug in.”1974, Spenser W. Havlick, The Urban Organism: The City’s Natural Resources from an Environmental Perspective, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 475, →ISBN
    • ⁽¹⁾ A large share of the ecumenopolitans may not take the trouble to operate their own vehicles.
      ⁽²⁾ The automata and the ecumenopolitans are inherently symbiotic, but the new breed will be specialists who are virtually bionic.1987: J. F. Brotchie, Peter Geoffrey Hall, and Peter Wesley Newton [eds.], The Spatial Impact of Technological Change, pages 419⁽¹⁾ and 420⁽²⁾ (Croom Helm; →ISBN, 9780709950066)

Adjective (2) capitalized: Ecumenopolitan

Ecumenopolitan (not comparable)

  1. Of or characteristic of the Ecumenopolis.
    • Planners and urban designers would, then, be able to conceive a clear and strong image of the Earth’s future urban patterns, with each city (hopefully) keeping its own visible identity and having its own open lands, water bodies, and recreational areas all around. Such an image, if properly...1969: American Institute of Planners, Journal of the American Institute of Planners, volume 35, page 202 (The Institute)
    • At a centre-point of a conurbation containing all but a fraction of mankind, and this at twice or three times mankind’s present numbers, the pressure of human activity on the unimaginable Ecumenopolitan centre-point would be as enormous as the water-pressure of the Ocean on the Ocean’s bottom at...1970, Arnold Joseph Toynbee, Cities on the Move, Oxford University Press, page 244

Noun (2) capitalized: Ecumenopolitan

Ecumenopolitan (plural Ecumenopolitans)

  1. (rare) An inhabitant of the Ecumenopolis, especially during its inchoate phase.
    • When such cities are formed ‘Ecumenopolitans’, crossing national boundaries daily, would establish the ultimate form of civilization on the earth. [¶] Born from existing cities and the individual places in which citizenship is established, each city will be a ‘metapolis’, an urban unit for...1977: Kishō Kurokawa, Metabolism in Architecture, page 69 (Studio Vista)
    • Meanwhile, Ecumenopolitans would have the advantages of 100 per cent literacy […]1984, American Water Works Association, Journal, volume 58, self-published, page 31

Examples of ecumenopolitan in a sentence

  • The prospective urban implies, therefore, ecumenopolitan order.2007: Baleshwar Thakur, George Pomeroy, Chris Cusack, and Sudhir K Thakur [eds.], City, Society, and Planning, volume 1: “City”, page 16...
  • Table 1 The ecumenopolitans: the world-serving roles1991, J. F. Brotchie, editor, Cities of the 21st Century: New Technologies and Spatial Systems, Longman Cheshire, →ISBN, page 379, →ISBN:

Forms of ecumenopolitan

Adjective
alternative formœcumenopolitan
Noun
pluralecumenopolitans
pluralEcumenopolitans

Origin of ecumenopolitan

From ecumenopolis + -ity + -an. First reliably attested in 1974: either, as from Ecumenopolitan, or a generalised use thereof, parallel with the development of ecumenopolis.

Adjectival sense first attested in 1969; nominal sense in 1977: Ecumenopolis + -itan, formed on the pattern of megalopolitan, necropolitan.

Questions about ecumenopolitan

What does ecumenopolitan mean?
Ecumenopolitan means of or conducive to the development, befitting the scale, or characteristic of an ecumenopolis or ecumenopoleis.
How do you use ecumenopolitan in a sentence?
The prospective urban implies, therefore, ecumenopolitan order.
What part of speech is ecumenopolitan?
Ecumenopolitan can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce ecumenopolitan?
Ecumenopolitan is pronounced /ɛˌkjuːmɛnəʊˈpɒlɪtən/ (UK).

Words near ecumenopolitan in the dictionary

  1. ecumenists
  2. ecumenopoleis
  3. ecumenopoli
  4. ecumenopolis
  5. ecumenopolises
  6. ecumenopolitan
  7. ecumenopolitans
  8. ecurie
  9. ecuries
  10. ecus
  11. ECV

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ecumenopolitan (page history and authors); Ecumenopolitan (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “ecumenopolitan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ecumenopolitan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.