PROVINCIAL Synonyms: 90 Similar and Opposite Words

provincial 1 of 2

adjective

Definition of provincial

as in parochial

not broad or open in views or opinions some people regard a fear of new things as an unmistakable sign of a provincial attitude

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

provincial

2 of 2

noun

prə-ˈvin(t)-shəl

as in peasant

an awkward or simple person especially from a small town or the country the confidence man figured that fleecing these provincials would be easy

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of provincial

Adjective

The government had spent the better part of a year, for instance, decentralizing its political and military bureaucracy so that provincial governors and military commanders could operate without instructions from top leaders. — Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar, Foreign Affairs, 1 Oct. 2026 Mamdani and Chow swapped notes on dealing with the constraints placed on them by their state and provincial governors, and on their respective battles over renters’ rights and the high costs of living in their cities. — Ishaan Tharoor, New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2026

Noun

Not long after his ordination, he was named the Jesuit provincial for Argentina, which put him in charge of the order’s activities throughout the country. — Carlos De Loera, Los Angeles Times, 21 Apr. 2025 The same year, he was appointed as a provincial for the order. — Caitlin McFall, FOXNews.com, 21 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for provincial

Recent Examples of Synonyms for provincial

Adjective

Since 2015, a flurry of cases has decided issues as parochial as how much individual athletes are paid out of broadcast revenues and how long student athletes are eligible to play.

— Sen. Rand Paul OutKick, FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2026
Back then the age of discovery was at its peak, and startling new information about what had previously been a very parochial planet was flooding into the academies of Europe and the Americas.

— Ian Tattersall, The New York Review of Books, 19 Sep. 2026

Definition of parochial

Noun

Influential courtiers orbited more closely than those with less gravity, and peasants weren’t part of the picture.

— Sophie Landres, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026
Sinclair confessed that his only direct experience with the motion picture business was as the financial backer of Sergei Eisenstein’s Thunder Over Mexico (1933), a documentary ethnography of Mexican peasant life.

— Thomas Doherty, HollywoodReporter, 19 Sep. 2026

Definition of peasant

Adjective

There’s also a small but well-equipped 24-hour gym, a sauna, steam rooms, and a Jacuzzi area with daybeds.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 10 Oct. 2026
In a small Idaho town, a young mother is accused of killing her young twins.

— Glenn Thrush Eric Schmitt Liam Stack Tim Balk, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2026

Definition of small

Noun

When Johnson was vice president and visiting Europe, there were reports filed by these British ambassadors in several countries that basically made fun of him as a hick.

— Wendy Naugle, USA Today, 14 Apr. 2026
So a bunch of hicks from Topeka were left up to our own devices of going down to Robert Hall and finding something that might be kind of cool.

— Devon Ivie, Vulture, 8 Apr. 2026

Definition of hick

Adjective

Stanley’s co-defendant, unsuccessful county commissioner candidate and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools bus driver Heather Morrow, was found guilty of the petty offenses and the misdemeanor assault charge.

— Julia Coin, Charlotte Observer, 7 Oct. 2026
Letts makes the most of his brief screen time as a manipulator whose petty genius lies in creating an artificial scarcity for his affections.

— Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 1 Oct. 2026

Definition of petty

Noun

Kerry learned this the hard way after allowing Jordan to question what appeared to be a local yokel over the mysterious shooting at a Rushville high school football game.

— Anthony D'Alessandro, Deadline, 16 Aug. 2026
It was left to the feds in Boston to arrest Farwell, after Meatball’s local yokels adamantly refused to do anything other than try to broom the crime by one of their own.

— Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 26 Apr. 2026

Definition of yokel

Adjective

But do such experiences meet the narrow definition of attachment?

— Pascal Vrticka, Scientific American, 4 Oct. 2026
When the pollsters gave likely voters additional, critical information about both candidates, Bass shot up by 5 points and took a narrow lead over Raman, 40% to 39%, with 21% undecided, according to FM3.

— James Rainey, Los Angeles Times, 3 Oct. 2026

Definition of narrow

Noun

The brand featured a thematic clown mascot and the beloved product was sold in famously reusable glassware.

— Joey Skladany, Southern Living, 28 Sep. 2026
What followed were Zoom-inclusive mediation meetings, the revelation of tens of thousands of dollars of debt, and something about clown school.

— Sam Stone, Bon Appetit Magazine, 25 Sep. 2026

Definition of clown

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provinces

provincial

provincialism

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Style

“Provincial.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/provincial. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of provincial

adjective

noun

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