2. A country or region dependent on a distant authority; a portion of an empire or state, esp. one remote from the capital. "Kingdoms and provinces." Shak.

3. A region of country; a tract; a district.

Over many a tract
of heaven they marched, and many a province wide.
Milton.

Other provinces of the intellectual world.
I. Watts.

4. A region under the supervision or direction of any special person; the district or division of a country, especially an ecclesiastical division, over which one has jurisdiction; as, the province of Canterbury, or that in which the archbishop of Canterbury exercises ecclesiastical authority.

5. The proper or appropriate business or duty of a person or body; office; charge; jurisdiction; sphere.

The woman'sprovince is to be careful in her economy, and chaste in her affection.
Tattler.

6. Specif.: Any political division of the Dominion of Canada, having a governor, a local legislature, and representation in the Dominion parliament. Hence, colloquially, The Provinces, the Dominion of Canada.

Provincial
(Pro*vin"cial) a. [L. provincialis: cf. F. provincial. See Province, and cf. Provencal.]

1. Of or pertaining to province; constituting a province; as, a provincial government; a provincial dialect.

2. Exhibiting the ways or manners of a province; characteristic of the inhabitants of a province; not cosmopolitan; countrified; not polished; rude; hence, narrow; illiberal. "Provincial airs and graces." Macaulay.

3. Of or pertaining to an ecclesiastical province, or to the jurisdiction of an archbishop; not ecumenical; as, a provincial synod. Ayliffe.

4. Of or pertaining to Provence; Provencal. [Obs.]

With two Provincial roses on my razed shoes.
Shak.

Provincial
(Pro*vin"cial), n.

1. A person belonging to a province; one who is provincial.

2. (R. C. Ch.) 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.

Provincialism
(Pro*vin"cial*ism) n. [Cf. F. provincialisme.] A word, or a manner of speaking, peculiar to a province or a district remote from the mother country or from the metropolis; a provincial characteristic; hence, narrowness; illiberality. M. Arnold.

Provincialist
(Pro*vin"cial*ist), n. One who lives in a province; a provincial.

Provinciality
(Pro*vin`ci*al"i*ty) n. The quality or state of being provincial; peculiarity of language characteristic of a province. T. Warton.

Provincialize
(Pro*vin"cial*ize) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Provincialized ; p. pr. & vb. n. Provincializing ] To render provincial. M. Arnold.

Provincially
(Pro*vin"cial*ly), adv. In a provincial manner.

Provinciate
(Pro*vin"ci*ate) v. t. To convert into a province or provinces. [Obs.] Howell.

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