Metropolitan - Definition and Overview

• When the word metropolitan (from the Greek metera = mother and polis = town) is used as an adjective, as in metropolitan bishop, metropolitan France, or metropolitan area it can mean:
  • of or characteristic of a metropolis; see also metropolitan area
  • of or belonging to the home territories of a country, as opposed to overseas territories (example: metropolitan France)
  • of, relating to, or designating an ecclesiastical metropolis (example: metropolitan bishop)

• When it is used as a noun, it can mean:
  • A metropolitan bishop (thus one may write "Alexius became Metropolitan of Kiev in 1354"; including the word bishop in such a sentence would be unusual),
  • A Metropolitan, a car originally known as the Nash Metropolitan, or
  • A Metropolitan Railway, commonly known as a Subway, Metro, Underground or U-Bahn (though, this meaning generally is used in Romantic languages).