Greater is used with the name of a large city to refer to the city together with the surrounding urban and suburban area.
...Greater London.
3. adjective [ADJECTIVE noun]
Greater is used with the name of a country to refer to a larger area which includes that country and other land which used to belong to it, or which some people believe should belong to it.
...greater Syria.
Greater in British English
(ˈɡreɪtə)
adjective
(of a city) considered with the inclusion of the outer suburbs
Greater London
greater in American English
(ˈgreɪtər)
adjective
[oftenG-]
designating a big city and the cities and towns surrounding it, esp. such an area included in the U.S. census
Greater Cleveland
All related terms of 'greater'
GR8
great
great
You use great to describe something that is very large. Great is more formal than big .
great organ
relatively large in size or extent; big
greater kudu
a spiral-horned antelope , Tragelaphus strepsiceros , which inhabits the bush of Africa
greater scaup
a diving duck , Aythya marila , of Europe and America, having a black-and-white plumage in the male
greater koodoo
a spiral-horned antelope , Tragelaphus strepsiceros , which inhabits the bush of Africa
Greater London
the administrative area of London , consisting of the City of London and 32 boroughs (13 Inner London boroughs and 19 Outer London boroughs): formed in 1965 from the City, parts of Surrey , Kent , Essex , and Hertfordshire , and almost all of Middlesex , and abolished for administrative purposes in 1996: a Mayor of London and a new London Assembly took office in 2000. Pop: 10 313 307 (2015 est). Area: 1579 sq km (610 sq miles)
greater omentum
greater weever
a fish , Trachinus draco
Greater Antilles
group of islands in the West Indies , made up of the N & W Antilles, including the islands of Cuba , Jamaica , Hispaniola , & Puerto Rico
greater celandine
a Eurasian papaveraceous plant, Chelidonium majus, with yellow flowers and deeply divided leaves
greater forkbeard
a fish of the Phycidae family
Greater Manchester
a metropolitan county of NW England, administered since 1986 by the unitary authorities of Wigan , Bolton , Bury, Rochdale , Salford , Manchester , Oldham , Trafford , Stockport , and Tameside . Area: 1286 sq km (496 sq miles)
greater periwinkle
a Eurasian apocynaceous evergreen plant of the genus Vinca , V . major , having trailing stems and blue flowers
greater pichiciego
an armadillo , Burmeisteria retusa , similar to, but larger than, a pichiciego
greater spearwort
a Eurasian ranunculaceous plant, Ranunculus lingua , which grows in wet places and has long narrow leaves and yellow flowers
greater yellowlegs
greater sand eel
a large species of sand eel , Hyperoplus lanceolatus
the Greater Dog
the constellation Canis Major
Greater Sunda Islands
a group of islands in the W Malay Archipelago , forming the larger part of the Sunda Islands: consists of Borneo , Sumatra , Java, and Sulawesi
the Greater Antilles
a group of islands in the Caribbean, including Cuba , Jamaica , Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico
Greater London Authority
the region-wide governing body for London. It consists of a directly elected executive Mayor of London, and an elected 25-member London Assembly with scrutiny powers
greater spotted dogfish
a cat shark found in the Northeast Atlantic, Scyliorhinus stellaris
mud eel
a slime-coated, eel-like siren salamander ( Siren lacertina ) with no hind legs, two short front legs, internal lungs , and external gills : it lives in swamps , ditches , and ponds , in the SE U.S.
greater spotted woodpecker
a black-and-white bird, Dendrocopos major , of the woodpecker family
London
the capital of the United Kingdom , a port in S England on the River Thames near its estuary on the North Sea: consists of the City (the financial quarter ), the West End (the entertainment and major shopping centre), the East End (the industrial and former dock area), and extensive suburbs
hackbolt
a European seabird , Puffinus major
James
Clive . 1939–2019, Australian journalist , critic and broadcaster. His books include the memoirs Unreliable Memoirs (1980) and North Face of Soho (2006) and the novel Brilliant Creatures (1983)
more/greater than the sum of its parts
If you say that something is more than the sum of its parts or greater than the sum of its parts , you mean that it is better than you would expect from the individual parts, because the way they combine adds a different quality.