English
province
see also: Province
Pronunciation
  • (America) IPA: /ˈpɹɑvɪns/
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈpɹɒvɪns/
Noun

province (plural provinces)

  1. A region of the earth or of a continent; a district or country. [from 14th c.]
    • 1859, Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species:
      We should find, as we do find, some groups of beings greatly, and some only slightly modified […] in the different great geographical provinces of the world.
  2. An administrative subdivision of certain countries, including Canada and China. [from 14th c.]
    • 2016, The Guardian, 4 May:
      All of Fort McMurray, with the exception of Parson’s Creek, was under a mandatory evacuation order on Tuesday, said Robin Smith, press secretary for the regional municipality of Wood Buffalo in the Canadian province.
  3. (Roman history) An area outside Italy which is administered by a Roman governor. [from 14th c.]
    • 2008, Mark Brown, The Guardian, 28 November:
      He reminded his audience of events in 88BC, when the same Mithridates invaded the Roman province of Asia, on the western coast of Turkey.
  4. (Christianity) An area under the jurisdiction of an archbishop, typically comprising a number of adjacent dioceses. [from 14th c.]
    • 1838, The Churchman, p. 44:
      In 1309, neither the Archbishop of Canterbury nor his suffragans would attend in Parliament while the Archbishop of York had the cross borne erect before him in the province of Canterbury.
  5. (Roman Catholicism) An area under the jurisdiction of a provincial within a monastic order.
  6. (in plural, chiefly with definite article) The parts of a country outside its capital city. [from 17th c.]
    • 1937, The Guardian, 1 April:
      To-day the first part of the new Indian Constitution comes into force with the granting of a large measure of autonomy to the provinces.
  7. An area of activity, responsibility or knowledge; the proper concern of a particular person or concept. [from 17th c.]
    • 1984, Dorothee Sölle, The Strength of the Weak: Toward a Christian Feminist Identity, page 37:
      Just as money is the province of the economy and truth the province of science and scholarship, so love is the province of the family (Niklas Luhmann).
Synonyms
  • (principal subdivision of a state) circuit, tao, dao, route, lu (imperial and early Republican China)
Related terms Translations
Province
Proper noun
  1. Surname


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