provincial

English

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for provincial in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Etymology

From Old French provincial, from Latin provincialis (“province”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹɒvinʃəl̩/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

provincial (comparative more provincial, superlative most provincial)

1. Of or pertaining to a province.

   a provincial government

   a provincial dialect

2. Constituting a province.
3. Exhibiting the ways or manners of a province; characteristic of the inhabitants of a province.
   • 1856, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Samuel Johnson

     {{..}} fond of exhibiting provincial airs and graces.

4. Not cosmopolitan; countrified; not polished; rude
   • '2011, KD McCrite, In Front of God and Everybody

     That awful little Cedar Whatever is no thriving megalopolis, and you people are so provincial, it's appalling.

5. narrow; illiberal.
6. Of or pertaining to an ecclesiastical province, or to the jurisdiction of an archbishop; not ecumenical.

   a provincial synod

7. Limited in outlook; narrow.

Derived terms

• provincially

Translations

of or pertaining to a province

• Catalan: provincial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 地方的

• Dutch: provinciaal (nl)
• Finnish: maakunnallinen
• French: provincial (fr) m
• Georgian: პროვინციული (ṗrovinciuli)

• German: provinziell, provinzial
• Italian: provinciale (it)
• Portuguese: provincial m
• Spanish: provincial m, f
• Telugu: దేశీయము (te) (dēśīyamu)
• Volapük: provinik (vo), (older word, obsolete) plovinik

exhibiting the ways or manners of a province

• Finnish: maalaismainen (fi), maalainen (fi), provinsiaalinen
• Georgian: პროვინციული (ṗrovinciuli)

• Portuguese: interiorano m, provinciano (pt) m

not cosmopolitan or polished

• Finnish: maalaismainen (fi), maalainen (fi)
• Georgian: პროვინციული (ṗrovinciuli)

• Spanish: provinciano (es)

of or pertaining to an ecclesiastical province

• Finnish: hiippakunnallinen (of diocese); arkkihiippakunnallinen (of archdiocese)

limited in outlook; narrow

• Finnish: kapeakatseinen (fi), nurkkakuntainen

Noun

provincial (plural provincials)

1. A person belonging to a province; one who is provincial.
2. (Roman Catholicism) 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.
   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 700:

     The Franciscan provincial Diego de Landa set up a local Inquisition which unleashed a campaign of interrogation and torture on the Indio population.

3. A country bumpkin.

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Catalan

Adjective

provincial (masculine and feminine plural provincials)

1. provincial

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French

Etymology

From Latin provincialis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔ.vɛ̃.sjal/

Adjective

provincial (feminine singular provinciale, masculine plural provinciaux, feminine plural provinciales)

1. provincial

Derived terms

• provincialement
• provincialisme

Noun

provincial m (plural provinciaux)

1. people from the provinces/regions

Further reading

• “provincial” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Portuguese

Adjective

provincial (plural provinciais, comparable)

1. provincial

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Spanish

Adjective

provincial (plural provinciales)

1. provincial