métropole

metropolis

noun meh-tro-POL Rare

Origin: Greek 'metropolis' (mother city), via Latin and French.

Also means

mainland (France)

Usage Note

Métropole has two common uses in French: a large city region (e.g. la métropole lyonnaise) and, when said alone, mainland France as opposed to its overseas territories — la métropole vs les DOM-TOM. The adjective métropolitain follows both senses.

Examples

"Paris est la plus grande métropole du pays."

Natural Translation

Paris is the largest metropolis in the country.

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