provincial
Noun pluralprovincials
Pluralprovincials
- 1
- 2Simple and country-style, without the smooth manners of city people.
Like wearing farm boots to a fancy dance.
His provincial clothes stood out at the fancy party.
He felt provincial next to his stylish cousins from the city.
Similarunsophisticated, unrefined, unpolished, rustic, countrified
Oppositesophisticated, refined, urbane, polished
Note
- 3Thinking only about your own small area, and not interested in different ideas or places.
Like someone who never leaves their street and thinks the whole world looks like it.
It's provincial to think no other city has good food.
His provincial views made him afraid of anything new.
Similarparochial, insular, narrow-minded, small-minded, blinkered
Oppositecosmopolitan, broad-minded, open-minded, worldly
- 4Showing the habits, speech, or manners of people from the provinces, not the capital.
Their provincial customs surprised visitors from the capital.
She kept her provincial way of speaking after moving to the city.
Similarrural, rustic, small-town
Oppositeurban, metropolitan, cosmopolitan
Note
- 5Narrow in your thinking and not open to other people's ways or beliefs.
The provincial rules at the school banned all new music.
It was provincial of them to ban books they had never read.
Similarparochial, narrow-minded, insular, small-minded, illiberal
Oppositecosmopolitan, liberal, broad-minded, tolerant
- 6Forming a province, or having the status of a province.
The islands were organized as a provincial unit with their own governor.
Leaders of the territory want provincial status so they can make their own laws.
- 7A person who comes from a province, not from the capital or a big city.
As a provincial, she found the capital noisy and rude.
The provincials traveled for days to see the king.
Note
- 8A person from the countryside who seems simple and does not know city ways.
The shopkeeper treated him like a provincial who had never seen an elevator.
City kids called her a provincial because she didn't know the subway.
Oppositesophisticate, urbanite
- 9Connected to a church area led by an archbishop, not to the whole church.
The provincial council met to discuss rules for all the churches in the area.
The archbishop signed the provincial rules for every parish under his care.
Note
- 10A monk who leads all the houses of his religious group in one large area.
The provincial visited each monastery in his region once a year.
Before opening a new school, the monks needed permission from their provincial.
Note
Less common meaning
- 11A rule for churches in one region, made by the archbishop in charge of them.
The bishop read the new provincial aloud to the gathered priests.
Every parish kept a copy of each provincial sent down from the archbishop.
Note
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
From Latin prōvinciālis, meaning "of a province," which came into English through Old French and Middle English.