provinces
- 1Plural of province.
The empire was divided into several provinces, each with its own governor.
Heavy rains flooded farmland across the southern provinces.
Note
The ordinary count plural, and it carries every meaning of the singular: the provinces of Canada or China, the provinces Rome ruled through its governors, the church provinces grouped under an archbishop, and the provinces of a monastic order. Add the definite article and the word can shift to the 'away from the capital' meaning, so the provinces on its own often points to the country beyond the capital rather than to administrative units.
- 2The parts of a country outside the capital and major cities, regarded as rustic or parochial; the hinterland.
Like the backwaters lying far from a nation's bright, bustling center.
After years in the capital, he retired to the provinces to write.
Touring companies often skip the provinces in favor of the big urban theaters.
Similarcountryside, regions
Note
Here the word looks out from the capital, and the judgment it carries is the same one in provincial, the adjective it points to: rustic, parochial, measured against the city. A plainer, neutral use of province names the same territory without that slight. It works only as a fixed plural with the, so a writer says retired to the provinces, never to a province, when this is the meaning intended.
provinces is a form of province
province, noun: An administrative subdivision within certain countries, such as Canada and China. Full entry
- Forms
- provinceprovinces plural
- Spelling
- province → provinces: add -s
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /ɪz/, an extra syllable.
Use it in a sentence
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