provincial

[ pruh-vin-shuhl ]

/ prəˈvɪn ʃəl /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR provincial ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

belonging or peculiar to some particular province; local: the provincial newspaper.

of or relating to the provinces: provincial customs; provincial dress.

having or showing the manners, viewpoints, etc., considered characteristic of unsophisticated inhabitants of a province; rustic; narrow or illiberal; parochial: a provincial point of view.

(often initial capital letter) Fine Arts. noting or pertaining to the styles of architecture, furniture, etc., found in the provinces, especially when imitating styles currently or formerly in fashion in or around the capital: Italian Provincial.

History/Historical. of or relating to any of the American provinces of Great Britain.

noun

a person who lives in or comes from the provinces.

a person who lacks urban sophistication or broad-mindedness.

Ecclesiastical.

the head of an ecclesiastical province.
a member of a religious order presiding over the order in a given district or province.

Nearby words

Origin of provincial

1300–50; Middle English (noun and adj.) < Latin prōvinciālis. See province, -al¹

SYNONYMS FOR provincial

3. rural, small-town.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR provincial ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

pro·vin·cial·ly, adverbin·ter·pro·vin·cial, adjectivenon·pro·vin·cial, adjectivenon·pro·vin·cial·ly, adverb

qua·si-pro·vin·cial, adjectivequa·si-pro·vin·cial·ly, adverbsem·i·pro·vin·cial, adjectivesem·i·pro·vin·cial·ly, adverbsub·pro·vin·cial, adjective, nounun·pro·vin·cial, adjectiveun·pro·vin·cial·ly, adverb

Can be confusedprovidential provincial

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for provincial

She tells us how little the federal and provincial governments have done to regulate the tar sands.
Our Trip to The Climate War's Ground Zero|Darren Aronofsky|September 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Twenty years ago it would have been laughable to believe that English provincial cuisine could match French provincial cuisine.
A British Start to the Tour de France Forces the English to Wonder: What Does Being English Mean Anymore?|Clive Irving|July 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In a province with tens of thousands of Iraq Security Forces, Tikrit, the provincial capital, was seized without a fight.
The Paper Tiger of the Tigris: How ISIS Took Tikrit Without a Fight|Andrew Slater|June 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And on Tuesday, a candidate for a provincial office and nine of his supporters were kidnapped and killed by the Taliban.
Would You Risk Your Life to Vote? It Looks Like 7 Million Afghans Did.|Dean Obeidallah|April 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST

In July, parliament lowered its quota for female lawmakers on provincial councils from 25 percent to 20 percent.
Legalized Spousal Abuse Is Coming to Afghanistan|Nina Strochlic|February 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Adrienne told him that she was with her parents in a provincial town.
Adrienne Toner|Anne Douglas Sedgwick
Many of these agricultural societies possess extensive grounds of their own in the near neighbourhood of the provincial capital.
Uruguay|W. H. Koebel
Of all this mass there remains only "The Provincial Letters."
A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 7 (of 10)|Franois-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire)
The repose of provincial life was hard to bear in comparison.
Louis XIV and La Grande Mademoiselle|Arvede Barine
The resolutions of the provincial councils shall be sent to the governor of the province.
The History of Cuba, vol. 4|Willis Fletcher Johnson

British Dictionary definitions for provincial

provincial

/ (prəˈvɪnʃəl) /

adjective

of or connected with a province

characteristic of or connected with the provinces; local

having attitudes and opinions supposedly common to people living in the provinces; rustic or unsophisticated; limited

NZ denoting a football team representing a province, one of the historical administrative areas of New Zealand

noun

a person lacking the sophistications of city life; rustic or narrow-minded individual

a person coming from or resident in a province or the provinces

the head of an ecclesiastical province

the head of a major territorial subdivision of a religious order

Derived Formsprovinciality (prəˌvɪnʃɪˈælɪtɪ), nounprovincially, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for provincial

provincial

adj.

late 14c., "pertaining to a province," from Old French provincial "belonging to a particular province (of friars)" (13c.), from Latin provincialis "of a province," from provincia (see province).

Meaning "of the small towns and countryside" (as opposed to the capital and urban center) is from 1630s, a borrowed idiom from French, transferred from sense of "particular to the province," hence "local." Suggestive of rude, petty, or narrow society by 1755. Classical Latin provincialis seems not to have had this tinge. In British use, with reference to the American colonies, from 1680s.

provincial

late 14c., "ecclesiastical head of a province," from provincial (adj.). From c.1600 as "native or inhabitant of a province;" from 1711 as "country person."