# metro

Pronunciation: say "MET-roh" US /ˈmɛtɹoʊ/, UK /ˈmɛtɹəʊ/

## Noun

1. A rapid-transit rail system that serves a metropolitan area and usually runs underground, or a single train on that system.
   - Simple: A fast train system that serves a big city and mostly runs under the ground, or a train on it.
   - _Visitors to Paris soon learn that the metro is the quickest way across the city._
   - _She just missed one metro, but another pulled into the station two minutes later._
2. A metropolitan area: a large city together with the suburbs and towns around it.
   - Simple: A big city together with the towns and suburbs around it.
   - _Home prices rose fastest in mid-sized metros across the South last year._
   - _The report ranks each metro by average commute time and housing cost._

## Adjective

3. Metropolitan; relating to a large city together with its surrounding suburbs.
   - Simple: Having to do with a big city and the area around it.
   - _Traffic in metro Atlanta slowed to a crawl after the storm._
   - _The paper moved two reporters from the sports desk to the metro desk._

## Noun

4. An urban rapid-transit rail system that usually runs lighter trains on lighter track, such as an S-Bahn, or a train on that system. *(rare)*
   - Simple: A city train system with lighter tracks and trains, or one of its trains.
   - _Unlike the city's heavy underground lines, the new metro runs lightweight trains on surface track out to the suburbs._
   - _The two-car metros that cross the river are lighter and slower than the old underground trains._

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 4** — From French métro, a clipping of métropolitain (from Ancient Greek mḗtēr, “mother”, + pólis, “city”), as in Chemin de fer métropolitain, an early name for the Paris Métro. That name directly translated “Metropolitan Railway”, the original name of the earliest part of the London Underground, built in 1863.
**Meanings 2–3** — A shortened form of metropolitan.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/metro (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).