What does municipal mean?
Word: Municipal
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Municipal means connected with a town or city and the people who run it.
Synonyms: civic, local
Word origin: Recorded in English from the mid-1500s.
How do you spell municipal?
Syllables: mu - nic - i - pal
Tricky part: It ends in pal, as principal does, not ple: students write municiple.
Watch out for: municiple, munisipal, municipel
Memory tip: Think of the municipal council as everyone's pal: it fixes the streetlights and collects the rubbish, and the word ends with that friend.
Municipal in a sentence
Example 1: The municipal library on MG Road stays open until eight.
Example 2: Our housing society wrote to the municipal office about the broken streetlight.
Example 3: Municipal elections decide who will sit on the city council.
Fun Fact
The Greater Chennai Corporation, set up in 1688, is often described as the oldest municipal body in India.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell Spies
Which word is spelt incorrectly?
a) cardinal
b) principal
c) artifical
d) municipal
Show answer
c) artifical. Artificial has ci before al, as official does; the other three are correct.
Back to the Roots
Choose the correct pair:
Municipal comes from ___ and is linked to a word that meant ___.
a) Greek / a town that ran its own affairs
b) Latin / a market for selling grain
c) Latin / a town that ran its own affairs
d) Arabic / a city square
Show answer
c) Latin / a town that ran its own affairs. Roman towns whose citizens managed their own local affairs gave Latin the root of municipal.
Jumble Tumble
Arrange the numbered letters to form a meaningful word. Choose the correct order:
123456789 cimpaluni
a) 654912873
b) 387219456
c) 378219456
d) 378129456
Show answer
c) 378219456. The order 3, 7, 8, 2, 1, 9, 4, 5, 6 gives municipal.
Spellacadabra
In which word do both blanks take the same letter?
a) mus__c__l
b) med__c__l
c) mun__c__pal
d) pel__c__n
Show answer
c) mun__c__pal. Medical, pelican and musical all put an a in the second gap, which leaves municipal with its two i's.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these is usually a municipal job?
a) collecting rubbish from homes in the city
b) making laws for the whole country
c) printing the country's bank notes
d) running the country's railways
Show answer
a) collecting rubbish from homes in the city
2. A municipal swimming pool is one that is ___.
a) run by the town or city council
b) used only for competitions
c) built inside a school
d) owned by a private club
Show answer
a) run by the town or city council
