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 the western Canadian province of British Columbia, the entire city of Kimberley has been placed under an evacuation alert, affecting some 9,000 people.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

That could build on American interest in mining operations in vast southwestern Balochistan province, home to one of the world's largest untapped reserves of copper -- an in-demand resource for AI data centre construction.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

But Pakistan's least-developed province grapples with a growing separatist insurgency, which has also targeted mining investments by China.

From Barron's ● 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

They had gone over mountains and across raw-burned deserts, from one province to the next.

From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini

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

Mehr, another state-controlled agency, reported explosions "in several provinces in the south" of the country.

From Barron's ● Jul. 18, 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

He added that his government was "in close communication" with provinces and local communities.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

She seized the opportunity to show off her wealth and gain a wider sphere of influence in the eastern provinces.

From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby

Related Words

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