micropolitan

English

WOTD – 25 August 2024

Etymology

The high street of Seaford, Delaware, one of the larger micropolitans (noun sense) in the United States.

Blend of micro- (prefix meaning ‘very small’) +‎ metropolitan.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌmaɪkɹəˈpɒlɪtn̩/, /-kɹəʊ-/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌmaɪkɹəˈpɑlɪt(ə)n/, /-kɹoʊ-/, [-ɾ(ə)n]
• Rhymes: -ɒlɪtən
• Hyphenation: mi‧cro‧pol‧is

Adjective

micropolitan (not comparable)

1. (US) Of or pertaining to a city or twin cities having at least 10,000 but fewer than 50,000 inhabitants; of a city: less populated than a metropolitan area but more than a rural one.

   Coordinate terms: (chiefly science fiction) ecumenopolitan, megalopolitan, megapolitan, metropolitan, nonmetropolitan, rural

   • 2004 June 27, Haya El Nasser, “Small-town USA goes ‘micropolitan’”, in USA Today‎^[1], McLean, Va.: Gannett Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-06:

     The government has created a new label for these communities, which increasingly fill the gaps on the map between major cities. The new term – Micropolitan Statistical Areas – recognizes that even small places far from metro areas are economic hubs that draw workers and shoppers from miles around. […] The largest micropolitan areas have more people than many metro areas. The Torrington, Conn., micropolitan area is the largest, with a population of 183,000 – bigger than the population of 103 metropolitan areas. Torrington is a micro, not a metro, because the central city has fewer than 50,000 people, the threshold for a city anchoring a metro area. Cities at the centers of micropolitan areas have at least 10,000 people but no more than 49,999.

Translations

of or pertaining to a city or twin cities having at least 10,000 but fewer than 50,000 inhabitants

• Asturian: micropolitano
• Finnish: pienkaupunki-
• French: micropolitain
• Galician: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: micropolitano
• Russian: микрополитенский (mikropolitenskij)
• Spanish: micropolitano

Noun

micropolitan (plural micropolitans)

1. (US) A city or twin cities having at least 10,000 but fewer than 50,000 inhabitants; a city which is less populated than a metropolitan area but more than a rural one.

   Coordinate terms: ecumenopolis, eperopolis, megalopolis, megapolitan, megapolis, metropolis

   • 2004 June 27, Haya El Nasser, “Small-town USA goes ‘micropolitan’”, in USA Today‎^[2], McLean, Va.: Gannett Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-06:

     For marketing experts who help companies decide where to expand, the "micropolitans" represent potentially lucrative – and untapped – markets. More than 28 million people, or one in 10 Americans, live in such areas.

Related terms

• micropolis

Translations

city or twin cities having at least 10,000 but fewer than 50,000 inhabitants

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 小城市 (xiǎochéngshì, literally “small city”), 小都市 (zh) (xiǎodūshì, literally “small metropolis”)

• Finnish: pienkaupunki
• Galician: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• micropolitan statistical area on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “micropolitan, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “micropolitan, adj.”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.