metropolizes

Verb

metropolize (third-person singular simple present metropolizes, present participle metropolizing, simple past and past participle metropolized)

1. To urbanize; to center or focus on the city.
   • Thus, the major issue in current communication policy revolves around the tendency of new communications technologies to centralize and metropolize sources of information.1987, Telecommunications Abstracts, page 14
2. To develop into a city or urban area.
   • Spoon River, like towns in all parts of the country, has become a standardized community, a "metropolized" town.1959, Ima Honaker Herron, The small town in American literature, page 364
3. (obsolete) To visit the city.
   • Where is that real Real* Devil, in, or out of London, — Jo. Parkes ? If he metropolizes, tell him he ought to come hither.1866, American Journal of Numismatics - Volumes 1-3, page 4

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