province

American  

[prov-ins] / ˈprɒv ɪns /

noun

• provinces
  plural

1. an administrative division or unit of a country.

2. the provinces,

   1. the parts of a country outside of the capital or the largest cities.

   2. (in England) all parts of the country outside of London.

3. a country, territory, district, or region.

4. Geography. physiographic province.

5. a department or branch of learning or activity.

   the province of mathematics.

   Synonyms:

   area

6. sphere or field of activity or authority, as of a person; office, function, or business.

   Such decisions do not lie within his province.

7. a major subdivision of British India.

8. an ecclesiastical territorial division, as that within which an archbishop or a metropolitan exercises jurisdiction.

9. History/Historical.

   1. any of the North American colonies now forming major administrative divisions of Canada.

   2. any of certain colonies of Great Britain which are now part of the U.S.

10. Roman History. a country or territory outside of Italy, brought under the ancient Roman dominion and administered by a governor sent from Rome.

11. Mining. an individual mineral-producing area.

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province British  

/ ˈprɒvɪns /

noun

1. a territory governed as a unit of a country or empire

2. a district, territory, or region

3. (plural) those parts of a country lying outside the capital and other large cities and regarded as outside the mainstream of sophisticated culture

4. ecology a subdivision of a region, characterized by a particular fauna and flora

5. an area or branch of learning, activity, etc

6. the field or extent of a person's activities or office

7. RC Church Church of England an ecclesiastical territory, usually consisting of several dioceses, and having an archbishop or metropolitan at its head

8. a major administrative and territorial subdivision of a religious order

9. history a region of the Roman Empire outside Italy ruled by a governor from Rome

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subprovince
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• provinces
  plural

Etymology

Origin of province

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin prōvincia “province, official charge”

Explanation

A province is a region within a country. If you travel to Canada, you'll have to decide whether you want to go to the province of Quebec, or Saskatchewan, or one of the other 8 provinces in that enormous country. Many countries are divided into provinces. In the U.S. we don't have official provinces; we have states and counties. But we can use province in its other meaning, which is "the sphere of one's activities." If you manage a coffee shop and sit there reading and drinking coffee even when you're not working, then that shop is your province.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

province provinces

In a separate security challenge, Pakistan has blamed an increase in attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southern border province of Balochistan on militancy emanating from Afghanistan.

From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026

The declaration, invoked under two articles of Pakistan's constitution dealing with security, grants the federal government sweeping administrative powers over the province.

From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026

Earthquakes are rare in Panama and usually occur in the western Chiriqui province, bordering Costa Rica.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

In Durban, in the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal, protesters gathered outside a government refugee reception centre demanding that it stop accepting asylum applications.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

While inspecting the schools in his province, Fourier discovered an eleven-year-old boy whose remarkable intellect and flair for oriental languages had already earned him the admiring attention of scholars.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

She toured remote provinces rarely visited by international journalists in recent years thanks to government restrictions and the difficulty of procuring fuel.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

The casualties in Thailand have occurred in three eastern provinces since September 16, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, with none reported in the capital.

From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026

With the marry-anywhere policy, Beijing is turning to a familiar move in its economic playbook: pushing provinces and cities to duke it out for growth.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

Canadian provinces had looked poised to put American alcoholic products back on their store shelves last month as Trump and Canadian officials appeared close to achieving a new trade deal.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026

Then it was pop bottle tops, then cigarette cards, then sightings of license plates from different provinces and states.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

Related Words

• colony
• county
• department
• district
• part
• region
• territory
• zone