Metropolitanizes

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To convert an area into a city or urban environment characterized by urban attributes and structures; to imbue a region with the social, economic, and cultural features of a large city; to develop a locality by incorporating elements typical of metropolitan areas, often reflecting increased population density and urban infrastructure
2. The process of transforming a space into a metropolitan setting, complete with urban amenities and characteristics; integrating the dynamics of city life into a previously less urbanized region; fostering the growth and expansion of metropolitan lifestyles within a certain locality
3. To adapt or evolve a region to reflect the qualities associated with major cities, emphasizing urban development; enhancing a place with features typical of metropolitan culture and infrastructure; facilitating the migration and confluence of urban ideals within a specific area

Etymology: "Metropolitanizes" is the third-person singular form of "metropolitanize," which is built from "metropolitan" plus the suffix "-ize." That suffix, borrowed through Latin from Greek "-izein," turns a noun or adjective into a verb meaning to make or become something, so "metropolitanize" means to make a place metropolitan in character. The base word traces back through Late Latin "metropolitanus" to Greek "metropolis," literally "mother city," from "meter" (mother) and "polis" (city). The word originally described the chief city of a province or the head of a church province, and only later came to mean a large, densely populated urban center. Each layer of meaning carries the sense of a central city that other places orbit, which is what the verb now expresses when it describes a region taking on the traits of a big city.