Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A center of population, commerce, and culture; a town of significant size and importance.
  • noun An incorporated municipality in the United States with definite boundaries and legal powers set forth in a charter granted by the state.
  • noun A Canadian municipality of high rank, usually determined by population but varying by province.
  • noun A large incorporated town in Great Britain, usually the seat of a bishop, with its title conferred by the Crown.
  • noun The inhabitants of a city considered as a group.
  • noun An ancient Greek city-state.
  • noun Slang Used in combination as an intensive.
  • noun The financial and commercial center of London. Used with the.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A large and important town; any large town holding an important position in the state in which it is situated.
  • noun The inhabitants of a city, collectively.
  • noun Medina in Arabia, where Mohammed took refuge when driven by conspirators from Mecca, his native city, a. d. 622.
  • Pertaining to a city; urban: as, a city feast; city manners; “city wives,”
  • Pertaining to the class of tradespeople, as opposed to people of birth.
  • One engaged in mercantile pursuits, as distinguished from one whose interests are landed, agricultural, or professional; a business man.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A large town.
  • noun A corporate town; in the United States, a town or collective body of inhabitants, incorporated and governed by a mayor and aldermen or a city council consisting of a board of aldermen and a common council; in Great Britain, a town corporate, which is or has been the seat of a bishop, or the capital of his see.
  • noun The collective body of citizens, or inhabitants of a city.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to a city.
  • adjective See under Council.
  • adjective [U. S.] The municipal court of a city.
  • adjective [Obs.] a watchman, or the collective watchmen, of a city.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A large settlement, bigger than a town.
  • noun Australia The central business district; downtown.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts
  • noun an incorporated administrative district established by state charter
  • noun people living in a large densely populated municipality

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English cite, from Old French, from Latin cīvitās, from cīvis, citizen; see kei- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English cite, from Old French cité, from Latin cīvitās ("a union of citizens, a citizenry"). Displaced native Middle English burgh, borough ("fortified place, city") (Modern English borough) and sted, stede ("place, city") (Modern English stead).

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word city.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "City life is millions of people being lonesome together." - Henry David Thoreau

    July 30, 2008

  • Means "feelings" in Czech.

    July 13, 2009