parochial
/pəˈrəʊkɪəl
/adjective
1Relating to a Church parish: the parochial church council...
- The return of the chimes holds a special place in the heart of the parochial church council member, who has lived in the village for nearly 30 years.
- She was a lively public speaker, a governor of two schools, and a member of Beverley Minster parochial church council.
- The vast array of suggestions were also presented to the parochial church council, which will now consider all the options before coming up with a final plan.
2Having a limited or narrow outlook or scope: parochial attitudes their interests are too parochial...
- Lawyers always have a narrow and parochial interest in expanding the domain of human activity subject to their cartel.
- Five hundred years ago, the available tools for enquiry were distinctly limited by parochial geography and religious culture.
- Our view of the blogosphere gradually narrows, becoming parochial and staid.
Synonyms
narrow-minded, small-minded, provincial, insular, narrow, small-town, inward-looking, limited, restricted, localist, conservative, conventional, short-sighted, petty, close-minded, blinkered, myopic, introverted, illiberal, hidebound, intolerant;
British parish-pump
North American informal jerkwater, hick
Derivatives
parochiality
- And I dislike the parochiality of country living - the ‘no man is an island’-ness of it.
- Sawford recognises that the pressure to put Kettering first risks parochiality.
- Alongside this parochiality we find a taste for the distant and exotic.
parochially
- My point: with something as esoteric and serendipitous as The Prisoner, a good chunk of its compelling oddness arises from the juxtaposition of parochially futuristic design and ideas which, even now, seem both apposite and radical.
- There, my World Bank friend continued griping about how she thought her brains would melt if she stayed in Singapore for an extended period of time. She said it was amazing how parochially suburban Singaporeans tended to be.
- New York is perhaps close, but it is too parochially American (although it is the least parochially American of all America's cities).
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French, from ecclesiastical Latin parochialis 'relating to an ecclesiastical district', from parochia (see parish).