provincial

English

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; backwoodsy, hick, yokelish, 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 (fi)
• French: provincial (fr) m
• Galician: provincial
• Georgian: პროვინციული (ṗrovinciuli)

• German: provinziell, provinzial
• Italian: provinciale (it)
• Portuguese: provincial m
• Russian: провинциальный (ru) (provincialʹnyj)
• Spanish: provincial m or 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.

Translations

monastic superior who directs a province of an order

• Vietnamese: giám tỉnh

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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/

• Audio

  (file)

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