provincial
Americanadjective
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belonging or peculiar to some particular province; local.
the provincial newspaper.
-
of or relating to the provinces.
provincial customs; provincial dress.
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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.
- Synonyms:
- small-town, rural
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(often initial capital letter) 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.
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History/Historical. of or relating to any of the American provinces of Great Britain.
adjective
-
of or connected with a province
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characteristic of or connected with the provinces; local
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having attitudes and opinions supposedly common to people living in the provinces; rustic or unsophisticated; limited
-
denoting a football team representing a province, one of the historical administrative areas of New Zealand
noun
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a person lacking the sophistications of city life; rustic or narrow-minded individual
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a person coming from or resident in a province or the provinces
-
the head of an ecclesiastical province
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the head of a major territorial subdivision of a religious order
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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provincialitynoun
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interprovincialadjective
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nonprovincialadjective
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quasi-provincialadjective
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semiprovincialadjective
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subprovincialadjective
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unprovincialadjective
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nonprovinciallyadverb
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provinciallyadverb
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quasi-provinciallyadverb
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semiprovinciallyadverb
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unprovinciallyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of provincial
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English (noun and adjective), from Latin prōvinciālis, from prōvinci(a) province + -ālis -al 1
Explanation
A provincial person comes from the backwaters. Someone from a small province outside of Provence, France, might seem a little more provincial and less worldly than someone from, say, Paris. Something or someone provincial belongs to a province, or region outside of the city. Provincial has a straightforward meaning when describing where someone is from, but it has some other shades of meaning too. Something provincial can be quaint and in a pleasing rural or country style, but it also can imply someone less sophisticated, as in someone with provincial, or simple, tastes. Individuals or groups of people who are considered narrow-minded are often labeled provincial, even if they're from the city.
Vocabulary lists containing provincial
The Great Gatsby
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Grade 11, List 5
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Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Mahmood Ul Islam, a 72-year-old lawyer in Kohat, south of Peshawar, told AFP he welcomed the emergency order, accusing the provincial government of "incompetence".
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
Meanwhile, the Parti Québécois won enough seats in last week’s provincial election to form a separatist minority government.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
The trial was set to begin in provincial court in Dartmouth on Thursday, but after the Crown provided no evidence against Smith, the actor's attorneys requested the case be dismissed.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
In 2019, he assisted the campaigns of several leftist Peronist candidates in provincial races in Argentina, and later founded his own consultancy, Numen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
Washington, for his part, obliged his Virginia critics by urging his stepgrandson to attend Harvard in order to escape the provincial versions of learning currently ascendant in the Old Dominion.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Naturally, to provincials in a military zone such as the one stretching south from Hadrian’s Wall, the implications tended to be alarming.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 28, 2019
They were inconspicuous, dressed like Russian provincials in parkas and tennis shoes.
From New York Times ● Sep. 10, 2018
In this novel, a motley band of provincials, army deserters, and disenchanted élites descend on Nigeria’s largest city, and story lines and twists abound.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 25, 2018
During his 1917 second inaugural speech, for instance, Woodrow Wilson memorably declared "we are provincials no longer."
From Washington Post ● Jan. 20, 2017
Sometime they’d strike out and seize the military supplies they knew the provincials were collecting.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
