Dictionary

provincial en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /pɹəˈvɪn(t)ʃəl/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English provincial, from Old French provincial, from Latin prōvinciālis (“of a province”), equivalent to province + -ial.

Meanings

1. Of or pertaining to a province.
   • a provincial dialect
   • a provincial government
   • More than 100 provincial and municipal firefighters were brought in, with helicopters and aircraft used to drop water and fire retardant, while bulldozers were digging firebreaks. 2016 May 4, Nicky Woolf, “Fort McMurray: Canada wildfires force evacuation of oil sands city”, in The Guardian:
2. Constituting a province.
3. Exhibiting the ways or manners of a province; characteristic of the inhabitants of a province.
   • […] fond of exhibiting provincial airs and graces. 1856 December, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Samuel Johnson”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC:
4. Not cosmopolitan; limited in outlook; narrow; illiberal.
5. (qualifier:extreme degree) Not cosmopolitan; limited in outlook; narrow; illiberal. ▸ Backwoodsy, hick, yokelish, countrified; not polished; rude.
   • That awful little Cedar Whatever is no thriving megalopolis, and you people are so provincial, it's appalling. 2011, KD McCrite, In Front of God and Everybody:
6. Of or pertaining to an ecclesiastical province, or to the jurisdiction of an archbishop; not ecumenical.
   • a provincial synod

Forms

Coordinates

insular · insular · rural · parochial · parochial

Deriveds

provincialization · unprovincial · multiprovincial · provinciality · ecoprovincial · comprovincial · nonprovincial · interprovincial · provincially · transprovincial · intraprovincial · provincial council · provincialist · provincialize · provincialate · subprovincial · extraprovincial · provincial park

Translations (68)

bg провинциа́лен (exhibiting the ways or manners of a province) · pl prowincjonalni (of or pertaining to a province) · kk шет аймақтық (of or pertaining to a province) · ca provincial (of or pertaining to a province) · ka პროვინციული (of or pertaining to a province) · hy գավառական (exhibiting the ways or manners of a province) · cmn 地方的 (of or pertaining to a province) · cmn 省的 (of or pertaining to a province) · el επαρχιώτικος (not cosmopolitan or polished) · hi प्रदेशी (of or pertaining to a province) · pms provincial (of or pertaining to a province) · ka პროვინციული (exhibiting the ways or manners of a province) · fi maalainen (not cosmopolitan or polished) · th บ้านนอก (not cosmopolitan or polished) · pl prowincjonalne (of or pertaining to a province) · gl provincial (of or pertaining to a province) · de provinziell (of or pertaining to a province) · fi provinsiaalinen (exhibiting the ways or manners of a province) · es provinciano (exhibiting the ways or manners of a province) · pt provincial (of or pertaining to a province) · fur provinciâl (of or pertaining to a province) · pt interiorano (exhibiting the ways or manners of a province) · hy գավառական (not cosmopolitan or polished) · fi arkkihiippakunnallinen (of or pertaining to an ecclesiastical province) · es provinciano (not cosmopolitan or polished) · lmo provincial (of or pertaining to a province) · fi nurkkakuntainen (limited in outlook; narrow) · es paleto (not cosmopolitan or polished) · te దేశీయము (of or pertaining to a province) · fi hiippakunnallinen (of or pertaining to an ecclesiastical province) · bg провинциа́лен (of or pertaining to a province) · hu provinciális (exhibiting the ways or manners of a province) · nl provinciaal (of or pertaining to a province) · es provincial (of or pertaining to a province) · vo plovinik (of or pertaining to a province) · oc provincial (of or pertaining to a province) · ru провинциа́льный (of or pertaining to a province) · pl prowincjonalne (of or pertaining to a province) · uk провінціа́льний (of or pertaining to a province) · hi आंचलिक (of or pertaining to a province) · hi प्रदेशीय (of or pertaining to a province) · hy գավառական (of or pertaining to a province) · ru провинциа́льный (exhibiting the ways or manners of a province) · ka პროვინციული (not cosmopolitan or polished) · lij provinciâle (of or pertaining to a province) · fr provincial (of or pertaining to a province) · el χωριάτικος (not cosmopolitan or polished) · da provinsiel (of or pertaining to a province) · vo provinik (of or pertaining to a province) · it provinciale (of or pertaining to a province) · uk провінці́йний (of or pertaining to a province) · el επαρχιακός (of or pertaining to a province) · pl prowincjonalna (of or pertaining to a province) · fi maalaismainen (not cosmopolitan or polished) · pt provinciano (exhibiting the ways or manners of a province) · de provinzial (of or pertaining to a province) · pl prowincjonalny (of or pertaining to a province) · hu tartományi (of or pertaining to a province) · fi kapeakatseinen (limited in outlook; narrow) · fi maakunnallinen (of or pertaining to a province) · hi प्रांतीय (of or pertaining to a province) · ca provincià (exhibiting the ways or manners of a province) · tl panlalawigan (of or pertaining to a province) · hi प्रादेशिक (of or pertaining to a province) · hu provinciális (limited in outlook; narrow) · fi maalaismainen (exhibiting the ways or manners of a province) · fi maalainen (exhibiting the ways or manners of a province) · la provincialis (of or pertaining to a province)

provincial en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /pɹəˈvɪn(t)ʃəl/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English provincial, from Old French provincial, from Latin prōvinciālis (“of a province”), equivalent to province + -ial.

Meanings

1. A person belonging to a province; one who is provincial.
2. A monastic superior, who, under the general of his order, has the direction of all the religious houses of the same fraternity in a given district, called a province of the order.
   • The Franciscan provincial Diego de Landa set up a local Inquisition which unleashed a campaign of interrogation and torture on the Indio population. 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 700:
3. (obsolete) A constitution issued by the head of an ecclesiastical province.
   • Or els is thys Goddis law, Decrees or decretals, Or holy sinodals, Or els provincyals, Thus within the wals Of holy church to deale […]? c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 65, lines 130–135:
4. A country bumpkin.

Forms

Translations (3)

bg архиепископ (monastic superior who directs a province of an order) · vi giám tỉnh (monastic superior who directs a province of an order) · hu provinciális (monastic superior who directs a province of an order)