Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
acropolis

acropolis

8 9.3
A high, protected area in an ancient Greek city for safety
  • noun
  • /əˈkrɒpəlɪs/
: acrópolis
  • Five of the original six caryatids from the Erechtheion on the Acropolis are installed on a porch intended to recall the building.
  • Acropolis Museum
  • Acropolis in Athens
  • top of the acropolis

Well, you do realize that the Athenian Acropolis here, let me pull up my screen, if you don't mind.

Examples

  • No artificial illumination is needed, and the sculptures, many of which stood outside on the Acropolis, can be seen in natural light.

    Academic text (2009)

  • The acropolis had been one of the city's enduring spiritual centers before it was abandoned around A.D. 820.

    Academic text (2010)

  • And we went to the Acropolis.

    Handsome Harry (2009)

  • Do you remember when... We were at the Acropolis in Athens?

    Handsome Harry (2009)

  • The Acropolis is really quite pretty by moonlight.

    The Moon-Spinners (1964)

  • And there is no more potent link to this past than the buildings and artifacts of the Acropolis.

    Academic text (2009)

  • We saw the Acropolis by moonlight, shades of grey and silver.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The improved museums and the restorations on the Acropolis will last long after the final national anthem is played.

    Academic text (2004)

  • The complex is made up of the temple atop a walled acropolis reached by the massive stairway.

    Academic text (2008)

  • The Parthenon, an ancient temple, is located on the Acropolis of Athens.

How Fortified

fortress
113 4.4
fort
257 2.3
citadel
19 7.7
acropolis
8 9.3
outpost
106 6.0

Surface Forms

acropolis singular
acropolises plural

Morphology

acropolis = polis (opaque) = acro + polis

Although historically analyzable as acro- (high) + polis (city), the Greek combining forms are not productive or familiar to average B1 learners, so the meaning is not transparently deduced from the parts.

Etymology

Acropolis comes from Greek parts acro- meaning 'high' or 'top', as in acrobat, and -polis meaning 'city', as in metropolis. So an acropolis is literally a 'high city', the fortified hill or strong part of a Greek town where people could be safe.