city

/ˈsɪdi/

/ˈsɪti/

Other forms: cities

A city is an area in which a large number of people live fairly close together. Cities usually have their own separate governments and systems for maintaining and providing utilities and transportation.

A city is basically a big town — the population is large in relation to the amount of land, since people often live in apartments or multi-family housing. The largest city in the world today is Shanghai, China. You can also call the residents of a city as a whole a city: "The city voted to increase recycling." City comes from the Latin civitatem, "citizenship," or "community of citizens," from the root civis, "citizen."

Definitions of city

1. noun

   a large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts
   “Ancient Troy was a great city”

   synonyms: metropolis, urban center

   types:

   national capital

   the capital city of a nation

   provincial capital

   the capital city of a province

   state capital

   the capital city of a political subdivision of a country

   type of:

   municipality

   an urban district having corporate status and powers of self-government
2. noun

   people living in a large densely populated municipality
   “the city voted for Republicans in 1994”

   synonyms: metropolis

   type of:

   municipality

   people living in a town or city having local self-government
3. noun

   an incorporated administrative district established by state charter
   “the city raised the tax rate”

   type of:

   administrative district, administrative division, territorial division

   a district defined for administrative purposes