German

Noun

Metropole f ‎(genitive Metropole, plural Metropolen)

1. metropolis; very large city; city which dominates its surroundings due to its population, administrative power or culture(s)

Declension

Synonyms

• Großstadt, Millionenstadt, Metropolis

English

Noun

metropole ‎(plural metropoles)

1. A metropolis; the main city of a country or area. [from 15th c.]
2. The parent-state of a colony. [from 19th c.]
   • 2007, Bruce Ackerman, ‘Meritocracy v. Democracy’, London Review of Books 29:5, p. 9:

     Though the metropole remained confident in its Westminster ways, its newly independent colonies imposed constitutional constraints on the powers of parliament.

   • 2007, John Darwin, After Tamerlane, Penguin 2008, p. 63:

     As Europe's population growth and commercial activity slowed down after 1620, its thirst for Spanish-American silver slackened: metropole and colony were drifting apart.

3. (now rare) A bishop's see. [from 19th c.]

Translations

See also

• metropolis

Latin

Noun

mētropole

1. ablative singular of mētropolis