metropolitan

 
Pronunciation: /mɛtrəˈpɒlɪt(ə)n/

adjective

  • 1relating to or denoting a metropolis: the Boston metropolitan area
  • 2relating to or denoting the parent state of a colony: metropolitan Spain
  • 3 Christian Church relating to or denoting a metropolitan or his see: a metropolitan bishop

noun

  • 1 Christian Church a bishop having authority over the bishops of a province, in particular (in Orthodox Churches) one ranking above archbishop and below patriarch: the post of Metropolitan of Moldavia and Bucovina [as title]: Metropolitan Aleksei of Leningrad and Novgorod
  • 2an inhabitant of a metropolis: a sophisticated metropolitan

Derivatives

metropolitanate

noun
metropolitan (sense 1 of the noun).

metropolitanism

noun

metropolitical

adjective
metropolitan (sense 1 of the noun).

Origin:

late Middle English (in the ecclesiastical sense): from late Latin metropolitanus, from Greek mētropolitēs 'citizen of a mother state', from mētropolis (see metropolis)