: an aggregation or continuous network of urban communities

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When Sir Patrick Geddes, a Scottish biologist turned sociologist, sat down in 1915 to write Cities in Evolution, a work on urban planning, he needed a word. How should he refer to thickly populated regions consisting of a sprawling range of cities clustered together? "Some name, then, for these city-regions, these town aggregates, is wanted…. What of 'conurbations'?" he asked rhetorically early on in his work. For his coinage, Geddes combined urbs (the Latin word for "city," already familiar in urban and suburb) with the Latin prefix con- ("together") and the English noun suffix -ation. It turned out that his word suited English speakers just fine-we've been using it ever since.

Examples of conurbation in a Sentence

a conurbation of cities along the river
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
It was left a ghost town, like many such European conurbations. Ian Penman, Harper's Magazine, 19 Feb. 2025 Sheffield, meanwhile, England’s ninth-largest population conurbation, has not produced England’s champions since the most recent of Wednesday’s four titles in 1930. Michael Walker, The Athletic, 12 Aug. 2024

Word History

Etymology

com- + Latin urb-, urbs city

First Known Use

1915, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of conurbation was in 1915

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Cite this Entry

“Conurbation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conurbation. Accessed 26 Mar. 2025.

Kids Definition

conurbation

noun
: a number of cities or towns that come one right after the other with no countryside in between

More from Merriam-Webster on conurbation

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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