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metro

SayMET-roh/ˈmɛtɹoʊ/UK/ˈmɛtɹəʊ/

Pluralmetros

4 meanings of metro

Practice

  1. 1
    nouncountable
    A fast train system that serves a big city and mostly runs under the ground, or a train on it.

    We went to the museum by metro.

    The next metro comes in three minutes.

    Similarsubway, underground

    Note
  2. 2
    nouncountable
    A big city together with the towns and suburbs around it.

    Rents keep going up in big metros all over the country.

    She moved her family to a smaller metro where houses cost less.

    Note
  3. 3
    adjective
    Having to do with a big city and the area around it.

    More than two million people live in the metro area.

    Every morning she reads the metro news before anything else.

    Similarmetropolitan

    Oppositerural

Less common meaning

  1. 4
    nounrarecountable
    A city train system with lighter tracks and trains, or one of its trains.

    The new metro uses short, light trains that stop every few blocks.

    Informs how long the passenger has to wait for the next metro
    2006, C. A. Brebbia, V. DolezelHere, metro means a city train.

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1, 4

From French métro, short for métropolitain, part of an early name for the Paris subway. That name copied London's “Metropolitan Railway.”

Meanings 2–3

Short for metropolitan.