A metropolis (in Greek metera = mother and polis = city/town) is a major city, which is an economical and cultural center for some country, and usually a hub for its international connections.

The word is also used for a metropolitan area, a set of adjacent and interconnected cities that function together as a metropolis. Otherwise the word "metropolitan" usually means "spanning the whole metropolis" (as in "metropolitan administration"); or "proper of a metropolis" (as in "metropolitan life", and opposed to "provincial" or "rural").

Note that in French the cognate word métropole designates the part of a country near or on the European continent; in the case of France, this would mean France without its overseas departments.

Metropolis is the name of several cities, including:

• the fictional city where Superman lives; see Metropolis (comics);
• the real city of Metropolis, Illinois.

Metropolis is the title of:

• an influential Fritz Lang film; see: Metropolis (1927 movie);
• a musical; see: Metropolis (musical);
• a novel by Upton Sinclair;
• an anime based on the manga by Osamu Tezuka; see: Metropolis (2001 movie);
• Metropolis Street Racer, a video game for the Sega Dreamcast console.

Metropolis is also the name given by James Patterson and Peter Kim to one of the Nine Moral Regions they identify within the United States in their 1991 best-selling book The Day America Told The Truth. It stretches along the Eastern seaboard from Fairfield County, Connecticut to Arlington County, Virginia, and includes New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.

The Metropolis-Hastings algorithm is a statistical procedure.

Metropolis is the name of leading music tv station in Serbia.

Metropolis is the name of a record label that specializes in industrial, EBM, and electro music.

Etymology

The word comes from the Greek metropolis ("mother city") (pl. metropoleis) which is how the Greek colonies of antiquity referred to their original cities, with whom they retained cultic and political-cultural connections. The word was used in post-classical Latin for the chief city of a province, the seat of the government, and in particular ecclesiastically for the seat or see of a metropolitan bishop to whom suffragan bishops were responsible. This usage equates the province with the diocese or see.

See also

• sister city
• metro (short for "metropolitan railway").

External links

• Metropolis US Architecure and Culture magazine
• Metropolis Free English magazine for foreigners living and staying in Tokyo, Japan
• The Metropolis Project An international forum for research and policy on migration, diversity and changing cities
• Metropolis Metropolis Records