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 Quebec, authorities said assistance from the United States and France arrived at the weekend to "address the significant workload" in the northwest of the province.

From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026

"It is played in every corner of the country, not only in Buenos Aires but in every province."

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

Xu has spent most of the past four years in her hometown in Anhui province but is planning to move back to Shenzhen soon to continue job hunting.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026

Currently, there are multiple wildfires burning across the northwestern part of the province, with numerous fires remaining out of control due to extreme heat, dry conditions, and strong winds.

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026

This was intended to be the province of the sort of people Joe had seen on the golf course at Princeton or on the manicured lawns of estates he had glimpsed up the Hudson.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Carney said it is up to the provinces to decide whether to reverse course.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

They noted that eight of 10 Canadian provinces pulled U.S. alcohol from store shelves last year after Trump imposed tariffs on the country.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026

Since the resumption of hostilities, the US had focused strikes around Hormuz, but extended them on Monday to other provinces, according to state media and local authorities.

From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026

Fire crews have faced widespread blazes across multiple provinces, with officials working to protect communities while managing limited firefighting resources.

From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026

The French had suffered a humiliating defeat in their war with Germany in 1870–71, when France was forced to surrender the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, a loss that France could neither forgive nor forget.

From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman

Related Words

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