province

American  

[prov-ins] / ˈprɒv ɪns /

noun

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

• subprovince noun

Etymology

Origin of province

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

Example Sentences

The noisy blasts that pepper towns across China in the weeks surrounding the Lunar New Year holiday were stymied after provinces began imposing strict bans on fireworks in the 2010s over safety and pollution concerns.

From Barron's

"I got put on the waiting list and managed to snag a ticket," the 19-year-old told AFP on Friday at the train station in Baoding in northern Hebei province.

From Barron's

“Almost every European country, with the exception of Nazi Germany,” he writes, “boasted a larger number of Communists as a proportion of their overall population than any province in China.”

From The Wall Street Journal

British Columbia, in western Canada, proclaimed Thursday a day of mourning across the province.

From BBC

But teapot refineries, clustered in China’s Shandong, a province sitting on the lower reaches of the Yellow River, are likely to drive a hard bargain.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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