city
noun
Simple meaning
A large settlement, bigger than a town.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
siteeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsɪti
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A large settlement, bigger than a town; sometimes with a specific legal definition, depending on the place.
slang
A large amount of something (used after the noun).
uk
The City of London, the historic core of London where the Roman settlement of Londinium was established.
uk
The United Kingdom's financial industries, which are principally based in the City of London.
Any of several other cities in metropolitan areas (such as San Francisco).
Australia
The central business district; downtown.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A large settlement, bigger than a town; sometimes with a specific legal definition, depending on the place.
Used this way, city is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Law/legal
- Government/politics
- Academic writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use city
- “Ancient Troy was a great city.”noun
- “The city raised the tax rate.”noun
- “The city voted for Republicans in 1994.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The central part of a city.
The central part of a city.
A municipal body that can pass ordinances and appropriate funds etc.
The editorial department of a newspaper that edits the local news.
A district of a town or city.
The newspaper editor in charge of editing local news.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A viewpoint toward a city or other heavily populated area.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.