a metropolitan area, especially as it is defined by demographics and other statistical measures; urban sprawl; the region of and around a city; a city beyond its political and governmental boundaries see MSA. definition of metroarea defined definition of metro area defined metropol definition of metropolitan area defined definition of metro defined

a geographical area defined by economic size and commuting trends

Short for "metropolitan area." This term is normally used to mean a standard metropolitan statitical area, as defined by the U.S. Bureau of the Budget.