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.

---

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

---

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

Born in the southern province of Guangdong, Yang started intensive training in programming when he was 17 years old and competed in China’s National Olympiad in Informatics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

The province holds a referendum next month on the question.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

Some 1,300 kilometres away, in the Philippine island province of Palawan, residents reported similar symptoms, including itchy eyes, nose and throat.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

Lake Ontario's name has an Indigenous origin, well before Canada's province of Ontario was formed.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

As previously discussed in chapter 2, Britain’s colonization of Indigenous lands in North America was foreshadowed by its colonization of the province of Ulster in northern Ireland.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

But Canadians need to figure it out, or they will stand to lose the custom of its largest trading partner and potentially even the territory of two of its most important provinces.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

The virus has spread to six provinces and is ravaging areas where the presence of the Congolese state is weak and insecurity is widespread due to the presence of armed groups.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

That’s without even dealing with the fact that Canada has 10 provinces and three territories, all with distinct identities, except perhaps for Saskatchewan.

From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026

Civil protection authorities said dozens of blazes swept through several provinces along the country's northern coastline.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

Celia half expects him to pull pink tea roses from behind his back as he used to when he returned from his trips to distant provinces.

From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García

Related Words

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