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

Sayoud said five people were killed in Jijel province, four in Bejaia and three in Tizi Ouzou.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

Ontario is Canada’s most-populous province and the heart of its manufacturing industry.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

The company's facilities in the coastal city of Ílhavo, in the province of Aveiro, are now equipped with modules with around 2MWh of storage capacity.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

It was deployed on Monday by UN helicopters to Minembwe in South Kivu province, which has seen intense clashes in recent months, according to UN and government sources.

From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026

Within a month the disease had spread into almost every province of Haiti, including Port-au-Prince, as well as the neighboring Dominican Republic.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

Some sectors and provinces are likely to bear more pain than others, they said, and persistent uncertainty over the future of the bilateral trading relationship could weigh on business confidence and hiring and investment decisions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

That boycott remains in place in 11 of the 13 Canadian provinces and territories.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

A poll published Sunday by the Angus Reid Institute found that 85 percent of Quebecers supported the move -- the highest approval rate among the 10 Canadian provinces.

From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026

He also claimed that Canadian provinces had restricted sales of U.S. alcoholic beverages in response to his “emergency” tariffs last year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

Wen was soon talking without prompts from Pete about his giant China, about the provinces, and poverty, the backwardness of people and leaders.

From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee

Related Words

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