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provincials

noun

plural of provincial
as in peasants
an awkward or simple person especially from a small town or the country the confidence man figured that fleecing these provincials would be easy

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 provincials Marlowe, the son of a poor Canterbury cobbler, and Shakespeare, the son of a Stratford glover and alderman, were both unlikely artistic geniuses, provincials in a nation in which social class was rigidly fixed. — Heller McAlpin, Christian Science Monitor, 10 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for provincials
  1. peasants
  2. hicks
  3. countrymen
  4. yokels
  5. bumpkins
  6. rubes
  7. clowns
  8. mountaineers
Noun
  • The video sweeps around a reveling fiefdom, showing everyone from peasants to dukes partying and getting it on.
    — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 18 Sep. 2026
  • The violence that has been simmering with the Ploughman now erupts into a revolution joined by thousands and thousands of peasants.
    — Pete Hammond, Deadline, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of peasants
Noun
  • 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 hicks
Noun
  • One of his countrymen, Javier Giner, also arrives at the San Sebastián Film Festival with his first movie.
    — Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 21 Sep. 2026
  • He was haunted by Switzerland’s position of neutrality during the fight against the Nazis, and he was troubled by the accommodations his prosperous countrymen were willing to make after the war to maintain their comfortable detachment.
    — Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of countrymen
Noun
  • 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 yokels
Noun
  • Simply put, the small-town bumpkins from North Florida who support this idea should be made to pay for it.
    — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 18 Feb. 2026
Definition of bumpkins
Noun
  • The good news is that this future of an AI takeover is looking increasingly unlikely, at least at the industry’s current pace, a fact which is now dawning on some of the biggest rubes and dupes in the corporate world.
    — Joe Wilkins, Futurism, 8 July 2026
  • All those unsuspecting rubes with no idea what’s about to hit them.
    — Joe Hagan, Vanity Fair, 18 Mar. 2026
Definition of rubes
Noun
  • Because some of them are showing up to the game looking like clowns.
    — Armando Salguero OutKick, FOXNews.com, 20 Sep. 2026
  • The excessiveness of Ken Russell, Joe Coleman, Tasha Tudor, clowns, migraines, Priscilla Presley, and the Winchester Mystery House.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of clowns
Noun
  • During summer, the Pinzolo cable car climbs to Doss del Sabion at 2,100 metres, where panoramic views stretch across the Brenta range and an extensive network of walking trails caters for everyone from casual hikers to experienced mountaineers.
    — Vicki Power, TheWeek, 14 Sep. 2026
  • At that time, it was called Hostellerie des Sherpas and functioned as a lodge for Everest mountaineers.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of mountaineers

Browse Nearby Words

provincialisms
provincials
proving
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Cite this Entry

“Provincials.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/provincials. Accessed 27 Sep. 2026.

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