municipality

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French municipalité (Edmund Burke), from municipal + -ité, from Latin municipalis, from municipium (“free city, township”), from municeps (“citizen of a free city or township”), from mūnus (“duty, service”) + -ceps (“taker, catcher”). Equivalent to municipal +‎ -ity.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /mjʊˌnɪsɪˈpælɪti/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• Audio (CA)

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• Audio (US)

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Noun

municipality (plural municipalities)

1. A district with a government that typically encloses no other governed districts; a borough, city, or incorporated town or village.
2. The governing body of such a district.
   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     From another point of view, it was a place without a soul. The well-to-do had hearts of stone; the rich were brutally bumptious; the Press, the Municipality, all the public men, were ridiculously, vaingloriously self-satisfied.

3. (politics) In Mexico and other Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries, second-level administrative divisions that may house one or more cities or towns whose head of government may be called mayors or, in Mexico, municipal presidents.

Derived terms

• prefecture-level municipality
• specialized municipality
• submunicipality

 

Related terms

• municipal
• munificence
• munificent
• remunerate
• remuneration

 

Translations

a district with a government that typically encloses no other governed districts

• Afrikaans: munisipaliteit (af)
• Albanian: bashki (sq) f (urban), komunë (sq) f (rural)
• Arabic: بَلَدِيَّة f (baladiyya)
• Armenian: մունիցիպալիտետ (hy) (municʿipalitet)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܟܪܟܘܬܐ (krkwtā)
• Azerbaijani: bələdiyyə
• Basque: udalerri (eu)
• Belarusian: муніцыпалітэ́т m (municypalitét)
• Bengali: পৌরসভা (bn) (pōurśobha)
• Bikol Central: banwa, banwaan (bcl)
• Bulgarian: община́ f (obštiná)
• Catalan: municipi (ca)
• Central Franconian: Jemeinde
• Central Mazahua: texjñiñi
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 直轄市／直辖市 (zh) (zhíxiáshì)

• Czech: obec (cs) f
• Danish: kommune (da) c
• Dutch: gemeente (nl)
• Estonian: munitsipaliteet, linnavalitsus
• Extremaduran: monicípiu
• Faroese: kommuna f
• Finnish: kunta (fi)
• French: municipalité (fr)
• Galician: municipio (gl) m, concello (gl) m
• Georgian: მუნიციპალიტეტი (municiṗaliṭeṭi)
• German: Gemeinde (de) f, Munizipalität (de) f
• Greek: δήμος (el) m (dímos)
• Hebrew: עירייה (he) f
• Hindi: नगरपालिका (hi) f (nagarpālikā)
• Hungarian: (settlement) település (hu), (concerning its physical or legal extent) közigazgatási terület, (hyponyms: city/town and village) város (hu), község (hu)
• Icelandic: sveitarfélag n
• Inari Sami: kieldâ
• Irish: bardasacht f, cathair bhardais f, baile bardais m
• Italian: comune (it) m, municipalità (it) f
• Japanese: 自治体 (ja) (じちたい, jichitai)
• Kazakh: муниципалитет (munisipalitet)
• Khmer: ក្រុង (km) (krong) (city)
• Korean: 자치체(自治體) (jachiche)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: شارەوانی (ckb) (şarewanî)

  Northern Kurdish: şaredarî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: муниципалитет (munitsipalitet)
• Latin: mūnicipium (la) n
• Latvian: municipalitāte f
• Lithuanian: savivaldybė (lt) f
• Luxembourgish: Gemeng (lb) f, Municipalitéit f
• Macedonian: општина f (opština)
• Mòcheno: gamoa' f
• Norman: meunicipalité f (Jersey)
• Northern Sami: suohkan, gielda
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kommune (no) m

  Nynorsk: kommune m

• Persian: شهرداری (fa) (šahrdâri)
• Polish: gmina (pl) f
• Portuguese: município (pt) m, comuna (pt) f
• Romanian: municipalitate (ro) f
• Russian: муниципалите́т (ru) m (municipalitét), комму́на (ru) f (kommúna) (e.g. in Sweden), общи́на (ru) f (obščína)
• Scots: municipality
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̏пћина f, муниципалитет m

  Roman: ȍpćina f, municipalitet m

• Slovak: obec (sk) f
• Slovene: občina f
• Southern Sami: tjïelte
• Spanish: municipio (es)
• Swahili: manispaa
• Swedish: kommun (sv) c
• Tagalog: munisipalidad
• Tajik: мунитсипалитет (munitsipalitet), шаҳрдори (šahrdori)
• Tatar: муниципалитет (munitsipalitet)
• Thai: เทศบาล (th) (têet-sà-baan)
• Turkish: belediye (tr)
• Ukrainian: муніципаліте́т m (municypalitét)
• Urdu: بلدیہ m (baldiya)
• Uzbek: munitsipalitet (uz)
• Vietnamese: khu tự quản
• Welsh: bwrdeistref f

the governing body of such a district

• Dutch: gemeente (nl)
• Finnish: kunnanhallitus (fi)
• Galician: concello (gl)
• Hindi: नगरपालिका (hi) f (nagarpālikā)
• Hungarian: helyhatóság (hu), önkormányzat (hu), elöljáróság (hu), törvényhatóság (hu)
• Icelandic: sveitarstjórn f
• Irish: bardas m
• Italian: giunta comunale f
• Persian: شهرداری (fa) (šahrdâri)
• Portuguese: governo municipal m

Scots

Etymology

Borrowed from English municipality.

Noun

municipality (plural municipalities)

1. municipality