acropolis

See also: Acropolis, acrópolis, and Acrópolis

English

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἀκρόπολις (akrópolis), from ἄκρος (ákros, “topmost”, “tip”, “summit”) + πόλις (pólis, “city”);^[1] By surface analysis, acro- +‎ -polis.

acropolis (plural acropolises or acropoleis)

A promontory (usually fortified with a citadel) forming the hub of many Grecian cities, and around which many were built for defensive purposes before and during the classical period; compare Acropolis.
- 1850, Karl Otfried Müller, John Leitch, transl., Ancient Art and Its Remains; or, A Manual of the Archæology of Art‎^[1], page 146:
  The Etruscans, then, appear in general as an industrious people ( φιλότεχνον ἔθνος), of a bold and lofty spirit of enterprise, which was greatly favoured by their priestly aristocratic constitution. Massive walls, mostly of irregular blocks, surround their cities (not merely their acropoleis); the art of protecting the country from inundations by the construction of canals, and outlets from lakes, was very zealously practised by them.

promontory of Ancient Greek cities

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 “Acropolis” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)