# provincial

Pronunciation: say "pruh-VIN-shuhl" /pɹəˈvɪn(t)ʃəl/

## Adjective

1. Of, relating to, or connected with a province, such as one of the administrative divisions of a country.
   - Simple: Connected to a province, one of the large areas a country is divided into.
   - _Provincial elections in Ontario drew record turnout this spring._
   - _The artifacts are housed in a provincial museum far from the capital._
2. Lacking the sophistication or polish of the city; countrified, unrefined, or crude in manners.
   - Simple: Simple and country-style, without the smooth manners of city people.
   - _Despite his provincial table manners, he charmed everyone at dinner._
   - _Critics dismissed her early paintings as provincial imitations of Parisian masters._
3. Limited or narrow in outlook; unwilling to consider ideas or ways of life beyond one's own familiar world.
   - Simple: Thinking only about your own small area, and not interested in different ideas or places.
   - _Her provincial attitude toward foreign films kept her from some great cinema._
   - _Refusing to read translated literature struck me as deeply provincial._
4. Displaying the ways, manners, or customs characteristic of a province and its inhabitants, as distinct from those of the capital or major cities.
   - Simple: Showing the habits, speech, or manners of people from the provinces, not the capital.
   - _The novel captures the provincial rhythms of life in a small cathedral town._
   - _His provincial hospitality, insisting every guest stay for supper, endeared him to the newcomers._
5. Narrow and intolerant in attitudes or opinions; illiberal toward views and customs unlike one's own.
   - Simple: Narrow in your thinking and not open to other people's ways or beliefs.
   - _The town council's provincial morality codes drove young artists away._
   - _Banning foreign newspapers struck observers as provincial and fearful._
6. Constituting a province, or holding the formal rank of a province within a country.
   - Simple: Forming a province, or having the status of a province.
   - _The treaty organized the conquered lands into provincial units, each with its own governor._
   - _Lawmakers debated whether the sparsely settled district qualified for provincial status._
9. Relating to an ecclesiastical province, the group of dioceses under an archbishop's jurisdiction, rather than to the church as a whole.
   - Simple: Connected to a church area led by an archbishop, not to the whole church.
   - _Provincial synods addressed disputes that individual dioceses could not settle._
   - _The new liturgy required provincial approval before parishes could adopt it._

## Noun

7. A person belonging to or coming from a province; someone from outside the capital or major cities.
   - Simple: A person who comes from a province, not from the capital or a big city.
   - _The new rail line let a provincial reach the capital and return home in a single day._
   - _The university drew ambitious provincials hoping to make their names in the city._
8. An unsophisticated or unpolished person from a rural area; a country bumpkin.
   - Simple: A person from the countryside who seems simple and does not know city ways.
   - _He played the wide-eyed provincial, gawking at every skyscraper._
   - _To the salon's regulars, the young poet was just another provincial with mud still on his boots._
10. A superior of a religious order who, under the order's general, directs all the houses of the order within a district known as a province.
   - Simple: A monk who leads all the houses of his religious group in one large area.
   - _The Jesuit provincial reassigned several priests to mission posts that summer._
   - _Each provincial reports to the order's superior general._

## Noun

11. A constitution (a formal church enactment) issued by the head of an ecclesiastical province. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A rule for churches in one region, made by the archbishop in charge of them.
   - _The synod's clerks copied the latest provincial into the cathedral register._
   - _Clergy who ignored the archbishop's provincials risked suspension from their benefices._

## Origin

From Middle English provincial, from Old French provincial, from Latin prōvinciālis ("of a province"), formed from province plus the suffix -ial.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/provincial (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).