province

/ˈprɑvəns/
/ˈprɒvɪns/
IPA guide

Other forms: provinces

A province is a region within a country. If you travel to Canada, you'll have to decide whether you want to go to the province of Quebec, or Saskatchewan, or one of the other 8 provinces in that enormous country.

Many countries are divided into provinces. In the U.S. we don't have official provinces; we have states and counties. But we can use province in its other meaning, which is "the sphere of one's activities." If you manage a coffee shop and sit there reading and drinking coffee even when you're not working, then that shop is your province.

Definitions of province
  1. noun
    the territory occupied by one of the constituent administrative districts of a nation
    synonyms: state
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    examples:
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    Guangdong province
    a province in southern China
    Gansu province
    a province in north-central China; formerly part of the Silk Road to Turkistan and India and Persia
    Hebei province
    a populous province in northeastern China
    Hunan province
    a province in southeastern central China between the Nan Ling mountains and the Chang Jiang; noted for its timber and valuable mineral resources
    Szechwan province
    a populous province of south central China
    Yunnan province
    a province of southern China
    Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region
    an autonomous province in far northwestern China on the border with Mongolia and Kazakhstan; the largest province in the People's Republic of China and the homeland of the Uighur people
    Inner Mongolia
    an autonomous region of northeastern China that was annexed by the Manchu rulers in 1635 and became an integral part of China in 1911
    Yucatan
    a state of Mexico on the northern part of the Yucatan Peninsula
    Campeche
    a Mexican state on the eastern part of the Gulf of Campeche
    Chihuahua
    a state in northern Mexico; mostly high plateau
    Coahuila
    a state in northern Mexico; mostly high plateau
    Quintana Roo
    a Mexican state on the eastern side of the Yucatan Peninsula
    Tabasco
    a Mexican state on the Gulf of Campeche
    Lower Saxony
    a state in northwestern Germany
    Bavaria
    a state in southern Germany famous for its beer; site of an automobile factory
    Kosovo
    a republic in the Balkan Peninsula that declared independence from Serbia in 2008; populated predominantly by Albanians
    Bosnia
    the northern part of Bosnia-Herzegovina
    Tirol
    a picturesque mountainous province of western Austria and northern Italy
    Assam
    state in northeastern India
    Karnataka
    state in southern India; formerly Mysore
    Manipur
    state in northeastern India
    Andhra Pradesh
    a state of southeastern India on the Bay of Bengal
    Bihar
    a state of northeastern India
    Goa
    a state of southwestern India; a former Portuguese colony
    Gujarat
    an industrialized state in western India that includes parts of Bombay
    Tamil Nadu
    a state in southeastern India on the Bay of Bengal (south of Andhra Pradesh); formerly Madras
    Uttar Pradesh
    a state in northern India
    Orissa
    state in eastern India on the Bay of Bengal
    West Bengal
    a state in eastern India
    Indonesian Borneo
    the part of Indonesia on the southern side of the island of Borneo
    Friesland
    one of the northernmost provinces of the Netherlands
    Orange Free State
    a province in central South Africa that was colonized by the Boers; named Free State in 1997
    Transvaal
    a province of northeastern South Africa originally inhabited by Africans who spoke Bantu; colonized by the Boers
    Cape of Good Hope Province
    a former province of southern South Africa that was settled by the Dutch in 1652 and ceded to Great Britain in 1814; in 1994 it was split into three new provinces of South Africa
    Cape of Good Hope
    a province of western South Africa
    Abkhazia
    an autonomous province of Georgia on the Black Sea; a strong independence movement has resulted in much instability
    Adzharia
    an autonomous province of Georgia on the Black Sea
    Buganda
    a state of Uganda and site of a former Bantu kingdom
    types:
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    commonwealth
    the official name of some states in the United States (Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and Virginia and Kentucky) and associated territories (Puerto Rico)
    eparchy
    a province in ancient Greece
    American state
    one of the 50 states of the United States
    Italian region
    Italy is divided into 20 regions for administrative purposes
    Canadian province
    Canada is divided into 12 provinces for administrative purposes
    Australian state
    one of the several states constituting Australia
    Soviet Socialist Republic
    one of the states that formerly made up the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922-1991)
    slave state
    any of the southern states in which slavery was legal prior to the American Civil War
    free state
    any state prohibiting slavery prior to the American Civil War
    type of:
    administrative district, administrative division, territorial division
    a district defined for administrative purposes
  2. noun
    the proper sphere or extent of your activities
    “it was his province to take care of himself”
    synonyms: responsibility
    see moresee less
    types:
    ecclesiastical province
    the district within the jurisdiction of an archbishop or a metropolitan or one of the territorial divisions of an ecclesiastical order
    type of:
    area, arena, domain, field, orbit, sphere
    a particular environment or walk of life
Pronunciation
US
/ˈprɑvəns/
UK
/ˈprɒvɪns/
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Word Family

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