city
noun
/ˈsɪti/
(plural cities)
Parking is difficult in the city centre.
It is one of the world's most beautiful cities.
Riots occurred in all the major cities.
the country’s capital city
Mexico City has a population of more than 20 million people.
Manchester City Football Club
in a city
We live in a big city.
the city of…
a map of the city of Boston
Collocations
adjective
verb + city
city + verb
city + noun
preposition
in a/the city
outside a/the city
phrases
the centre/center of a city
the heart of a city
the middle of a city…
2 countable (British English) a town that has been given special rights by a king or queen, usually one that has a cathedral the city of York
Ely is a cathedral city in East Cambridgeshire.
3 countable (North American English) a town that has been given special rights by the state government The city turned out to welcome the victorious team home.
5 the City (of London) singular (British English) the UK’s financial and business centre, in the oldest part of London; the people who work there a City stockbroker
What is the City's reaction to the cut in interest rates?
6 uncountable (informal) used after other nouns to say that a place is full of a particular thing It's not exactly fun city here is it?
Word Origin
Middle English: from Old French cite, from Latin civitas, from civis ‘citizen’. Originally denoting a town, and often used as a Latin equivalent to Old English burh ‘borough’, the term was later applied to foreign and ancient cities and to the more important English boroughs. The connection between city and cathedral grew up under the Norman kings, as the episcopal sees (many had been established in villages) were removed to the chief borough of the diocese.
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