provincial

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   characteristic of the provinces or their people

   deeply provincial and conformist

2. 2
   adj

   of or associated with a province

   provincial government

3. 3
   noun

   (Roman Catholic Church) an official in charge of an ecclesiastical province acting under the superior general of a religious order

   the general of the Jesuits receives monthly reports from the provincials

4. 4
   adj

   Of or pertaining to a province.

   a provincial government

5. 5
   adj

   Exhibiting the ways or manners of a province; characteristic of the inhabitants of a province.

   […] fond of exhibiting provincial airs and graces.

6. 6
   adj

   Of or pertaining to an ecclesiastical province, or to the jurisdiction of an archbishop; not ecumenical.

   a provincial synod

7. 7
   noun

   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.

   The Franciscan provincial Diego de Landa set up a local Inquisition which unleashed a campaign of interrogation and torture on the Indio population.

8. 8
   noun

   A constitution issued by the head of an ecclesiastical province.

   Or els is thys Goddis law, Decrees or decretals, Or holy sinodals, Or els provincyals, Thus within the wals Of holy church to deale […]?

Etymology

From Middle English provincial, from Old French provincial, from Latin prōvinciālis (“of a province”), equivalent to province + -ial.