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city

/ˈsɪdi/
/ˈsɪti/
IPA guide

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
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    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
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    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”
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    type of:
    administrative district, administrative division, territorial division
    a district defined for administrative purposes
Pronunciation
US
/ˈsɪdi/
UK
/ˈsɪti/
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