urban center
14
3.4
- noun
- /ˈɜrbən ˈsɛntər/
:
centro urbano
- Many people prefer to live in an urban center because of the access to jobs and amenities.
- large urban center
- major urban centers
- main urban centers
This would be a place to retreat to if, you know, major urban centers got, you know, compromised in some way.
- This would be a place to retreat to if, you know, major urban centers got, you know, compromised in some way.
- And this is true even in in urban centers.
- I bet that's a big kind of lunchtime thing in, you know, in, in urban centers with this big offices.
- Within this extensive countryside there's a network of small, intensive urban centres.
- Without these urban centers, a diminished population spread across the countryside, mostly engaged in subsistence.
Examples
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Progressive forces see an added benefit in removing the army from Brazil's large urban centers.
Academic text (1993) -
In all, the text includes commentary on eleven of the principal urban centers in France and Belgium.
Academic text (1993) -
I come from an urban center.
-
My sensors indicate we are near an urban center.
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Heavy industry was another major source of air pollution, particularly around urban centers.
Academic text (1995) -
Physicians were moving from rural communities to urban centers in increasing numbers.
Academic text (1991) -
How did a Peruvian community take root in a U.S. urban center?
Academic text (1999) -
If you walk around most urban centers today, most of the firms that you see advertised on the side of buses fit into this category.
-
Population contracts and urban centers gradually give way to town- and village-scale settlements.
Academic text (1999) -
Their verses both reflected and projected a picture of life in the rapidly expanding urban centers of Chile.
Academic text (1993)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A large town where many people live and work that has its own local government
175
5.2
A very large important city that is the main center in a region or country
41
2.7
A place with many people and buildings like a city
3
3.9
A very large city with more than ten million people and many jobs and services
1
8.1
A very large area where several cities and towns meet and many people live
1
6.8
A very large city formed when several towns join, often imagined as very modern
Antonyms
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a large, densely populated city or metropolitan area' is directly and predictably derived from 'urban' (relating to city life) combined with 'center' (the core or central place). This adjective + noun composition is cross-linguistically common and follows standard semantic combination patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Urban center comes from the words urban ('city') and center ('middle'). It makes you think of the busy middle of a city where most people, shops and offices are, so it means 'a large, densely populated city area'.