metropoles

Noun

metropole (plural metropoles)

1. A metropolis; the main city of a country or area.
   • The first Antifas functioned as platforms to organize against far-right groups like the National Democratic Party (NPD) in an autonomist movement still numbering in the tens of thousands of active members and capable of occupying entire city blocks in some West German metropoles.2017 May, Loren Balhorn, “The Lost History of Antifa”, in Jacobin Magazine
2. The parent-state of a colony.
   • Though the metropole remained confident in its Westminster ways, its newly independent colonies imposed constitutional constraints on the powers of parliament.2007, Bruce Ackerman, “Meritocracy v. Democracy”, in London Review of Books, 29:5, p. 9
3. (archaic) A bishop's see.

Noun

metropolis (plural metropolises or metropoleis or metropoles or metropolizes or metropoli or (obsolete) metropolisses or (obsolete) metropolis's)

1. (especially Ancient Greece) The 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

   Synonyms:

   metropolitan city

3. (Orthodox Christianity) The see of a metropolitan bishop, ranking above its suffragan diocesan bishops.

   Synonyms:

   archbishopric

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

See all 10 meanings of metropolis