provinceprov‧ince /ˈprɒvəns $ ˈprɑː-/ ●●○ noun 
Word Origin
a Chinese province2the provinces the parts of a country that are not near the capital3[singular] formal a subject that someone knows a lot about or something that only they are responsible forprovince of Computers were once the exclusive province of scientists and mathematicians.
Word OriginWORD ORIGINprovince
ExamplesOrigin:
1300-1400 Old French, Latin provincia ‘Roman land’, from vincere ‘to defeat’EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
word sets- By this time, all provinces except Zambezia had at least 40 percent female enrolment.
- For neo-populists, it is the social structure in these central provinces that is crucial.
- He visited the other dioceses of his province, including a tour of several days to the Isle of Man.
- Most tellingly, Labour's vote was well down on its 1990 performance in the provinces.
- Printers, modems and speakers were considered necessities, but scanners were the province of professional artists with money to burn.
- The separatist movement began in the mid-1970s after the province was denied additional natural gas revenue.
- Together with the political background in the province, this smallness of scale has complicated discussions of local government reorganisation.
- When Ottawa's programme expired in April, pressure mounted on the provinces to provide assistance.
WORD SETS► Geography
Collocationsabyss, nounalluvial, adjectivealluvium, nounalpine, adjectiveAmerican, adjectiveAntarctica, anticyclone, nounarchipelago, nounArctic, adjectivearid, adjectiveAsia, atlas, nounatoll, nounAustralasia, Australasian, adjectiveAustralia, avalanche, nounaxis, nounbank, nounbarometer, nounbarrier reef, nounbasin, nounbay, nounbayou, nounbeach, nounbearing, nounbed, nounbight, nounbluff, nounborder, nounborder, verbborderland, nounborderline, nounborough, nounbox canyon, nounBritish, adjectivebutte, nouncanyon, nouncape, nouncapital, nouncardinal point, nounCaribbean, adjectivecartography, nouncay, nounchain, nounchaparral, nounchart, nounchasm, nounchimney, nounChinese, adjectivecirrus, nounCIS, nouncliff, nounclimate, nounclimatic, adjectivecoastal, adjectivecoastline, nouncockney, nouncol, nouncold front, nouncommuter belt, nouncompass, nounconfluence, nouncontinent, nouncontinental, adjectivecontinental shelf, nouncontour, nounconurbation, nouncoordinate, nouncorridor, nouncorrie, nouncoterminous, adjectivecouncil estate, nouncountry, nouncounty, nouncounty town, nouncourse, nouncove, nouncrag, nouncraggy, adjectivecreek, nouncrevasse, nouncrevice, nouncumulus, nouncyclone, noundateline, noundelta, noundesert, noundesert island, noundevelopment, noundistrict, noundivide, noundown, adverbdune, noundust bowl, nouneast, nouneast, adjectiveeast, adverbeastbound, adjectiveeasterly, adjectiveeasterly, nouneastern, adjectiveEasterner, nouneasternmost, adjectiveeastwards, adverbelevation, nouneminence, nounenvirons, nounequatorial, adjectiveerode, verberosion, nounescarpment, nounestuary, nounEurope, nounextraterritorial, adjectiveeyot, nounface, nounfarmland, nounfeeder, nounfiord, nounfirth, nounfjord, nounflood plain, nounfluvial, adjectivefrontier, nounfrontiersman, noungale force, adjectivegap, noungeo-, prefixgeography, noungeophysics, noungeopolitics, noungeyser, nounglacial, adjectiveglaciation, nounglacier, nounglobe, noungoldfield, noungorge, noungrassland, nounGrecian, adjectivegreen belt, noungrid, noungrotto, noungroundwater, noungulch, noungulf, noungully, nounhead, nounheadland, nounheadwaters, nounheartland, nounhemisphere, nounhighland, adjectivehighlands, nounhigh water mark, nounhinterland, nounHome Counties, the, homeland, nounhurricane, noun-i, suffixIberian, adjectiveiceberg, nounice cap, nounice floe, nounice pack, nounice sheet, nouninhabitant, nouninland, adjectiveinland, adverbinlet, nouninner city, nouninshore, adverbinsular, adjectiveintercontinental, adjectiveInternational Date Line, nounisland, nounisle, nounislet, nounisobar, nounIsraeli, adjectiveIsraeli, nounisthmus, nounItalian, adjectiveItalianate, adjectiveItalo-, prefixJapanese, adjectivekey, nounknoll, nounlagoon, nounlake, nounlandlocked, adjectivelandmass, nounlandslide, nounlandslip, nounlat., Latin, adjectiveLatin America, nounLatin American, adjectivelatitude, nounlevee, nounlittoral, nounlong., longitude, nounlongitudinal, adjectivelough, nounlowlands, nounlow-lying, adjectivelow water mark, nounmagnetic north, nounmagnetic pole, nounmarsh, nounmarshland, nounmeander, verbMediterranean, adjectiveMercator projection, nounmeridian, nounmesa, nounMiddle America, nounmidtown, adjectivemonsoon, nounmoorland, nounmorass, nounmountain, nounmountainside, nounmountaintop, nounmouth, nounmudslide, nounmull, nounnarrows, nounnavigation, nounNE, neck, nounnor'-, prefixnorth, nounnorth, adjectivenorth, adverbNorth America, nounnortheast, nounnortheast, adjectivenortheasterly, adjectivenortheastern, adjectivenortheastwards, adverbnortherly, adjectivenorthern, adjectivenortherner, nounnorthernmost, adjectivenorthwards, adverbnorthwest, nounnorthwest, adjectivenorthwesterly, adjectivenorthwestern, adjectivenorthwestwards, adverbnotch, nounNW, NZ, oasis, nounoccidental, nounocean, nounonshore, adjectiveopenness, nounOrdnance Survey map, nounoriental, adjectiveoutcrop, nounoverspill, nounpack ice, nounpaddy, nounpalisade, nounpan-, prefixpanhandle, nounparallel, nounpeak, nounpeninsula, nounPersian, adjectivephysical geography, nounplain, nounplateau, nounpoint, nounpolar, adjectivepole, nounpolitical geography, nounpollutant, nounpop., populate, verbpopulation, nounprairie, nounprecipice, nounprecipitation, nounPrime Meridian, principality, nounprojection, nounpromontory, nounprovince, nounprovincial, adjectivepueblo, nounR, rainfall, nounrain forest, nounrain gauge, nounrainstorm, nounrange, nounravine, nounreef, nounreference, nounregion, nounregional, adjectiverelief map, nounreservoir, nounresettle, verbresidential, adjectiveresource, nounridge, nounrift valley, nounrise, verbriver, nounriver basin, nounriver bed, nounRoman, adjectiverotation, nounrugged, adjectiverun-off, nounrural, adjectivesand, nounsand bar, nounsandstorm, nounsandy, adjectivesavanna, nounScandinavian, nounscar, nounscarp, nounscree, nounscrubland, nounSE, seaboard, nounsea breeze, nounseafront, nounsea level, nounseaport, nounseaward, adjectivesection, nounsemitropical, adjectiveshelf, nounslough, nounsmog, nounsnowfield, nounsource, nounsouth, nounsouth, adjectivesouth, adverbSouth America, adjectivesoutheast, nounsoutheast, adjectivesoutheasterly, adjectivesoutheastern, adjectivesoutheastwards, adverbsoutherly, adjectivesouthern, adjectivesouthernmost, adjectivesouthwards, adverbsouthwest, nounsouthwest, adjectivesouthwesterly, adjectivesouthwestern, adjectivesouthwestwards, adverbspeleology, nounspit, nounspur, nounstrait, nounsubcontinent, nounsubtropical, adjectivesuburb, nounsuburban, adjectivesummit, nounsurvey, nounsurvey, verbSW, swamp, nountableland, nounterrain, nounterritory, nountidal, adjectivetidal wave, nountidewater, nountime zone, nountop, nountopography, nountor, nountornado, nountown, nountown centre, nountowpath, nountrack, nountract, nountrade route, nountrail, nountransatlantic, adjectivetranscontinental, adjectivetributary, nountropic, nountropical, adjectivetundra, nountyphoon, nounUK, the, uncharted, adjectiveup, adverbup-country, adjectiveuplands, nounupper, adjectiveupriver, adverbupstate, adjectiveupstream, adverbuptown, adverburban, adjectiveurbanized, adjectiveurban renewal, nounurban sprawl, nounUS, the, adjectivevalley, nounW, warm front, nounwaste, adjectivewasteland, nounwater, verbwatercourse, nounwaterfall, nounwaterfront, nounwaterhole, nounwatering place, nounwater meadow, nounwatershed, nounwater table, nounwaterway, nounweather vane, nounwest, nounwest, adjectiveWest, nounwestern, adjectiveWesterner, nounwesternmost, adjectivewestward, adverbwilderness, nounwolds, nounzoning, noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE► central
Phrases· This year it was the waylaying of a southbound train at a station in central Anhui province by a local gang.· But the densely populated central provinces present a very different picture.· Police have arrested 80 people during the unrest in the Central Kalimantan province.· For neo-populists, it is the social structure in these central provinces that is crucial.
► eastern· Julian's main impact was confined to the Eastern provinces.· After holing up for the winter of 2512 the horde descended into the eastern provinces of the Empire.· But no one has mentioned what's been going on in our eastern provinces or in Katanga in the south.· Almost a thousand buildings are represented, mainly from the city of Rome and from eastern provinces of the Roman empire.
► northern· A utilitarian concrete block clogged with book kiosks and leftist murals, it draws its 17,000 students from six northern provinces.· Soldiers on both sides are also still fighting in the northern province of Takhar.· Like the provincial nobility of the northern provinces, this was a working nobility.· Both dealers took the night train to a Northern province, the home town of one of them.· Having lost his northern provinces, he does not hide his ambition to re-establish his gruesome tyranny over them.· He said that it needed strengthening in the northern province.
► other· Prospecting continued in other provinces, though most intensely in Connaught and Ulster.
► southern· Lemba is in the southern province of Katanga.· The blast last week in remote Fanglin village, deep in the southern province of Jiangxi, was massive.· Mujaheddin forces also attacked Qalat, the capital of the southern province of Zabul.· The absence of reference to a division of the southern province, therefore, is not altogether surprising.· Kabila, from the secessionist southern province of Katanga, studied in Paris and Belgrade before returning home in 1963.· Why had he been so determined to create a second see of archiepiscopal rank in the southern province in the first place?
► western· New policies on developing the backward western provinces and improving health, education and social welfare are stressed.· It reported in mid-1861, but suggested only that the peasantry of the western provinces fulfil their obligations in cash rather than labour.· I had just come in from one of the western provinces, where I'd worked in a bush surgery.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY► the provinces
1 (also Province) [countable] one of the large areas into which some countries are divided, and which usually has its own local government: - Life in the provinces was difficult.
- Her parents were not Parisians, they came from the provinces and Jeanne herself combined innocence with imaginative courage.
- In 1789-90 the conviction rate in London was 79 percent and in the provinces 85 percent.
- In the provinces it took a little time before London fashions were adopted.
- In view of the unorthodox behaviour of the Komsomol that we have noted in the provinces, such a move was overdue.
- It also indicated that a referendum might well be held on the package prior to its submission to the provinces.
- Poor boys from the provinces could rise above the sons of tycoons if only they could pass the Todai entrance exam.
- Rilke in Paris For the shy young man from the provinces life began seven floors up.
- Yet after 1750 this group came to acquire a special connection with the provinces through its links with the country banks.
a Chinese province2the provinces the parts of a country that are not near the capital3[singular] formal a subject that someone knows a lot about or something that only they are responsible forprovince of Computers were once the exclusive province of scientists and mathematicians.