province Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the territory occupied by one of the constituent administrative districts of a nation
    state.
    • his state is in the deep south
  2. noun the proper sphere or extent of your activities
    responsibility.
    • it was his province to take care of himself

WordNet

Prov"ince noun
Etymology
F., fr. L. provincia; prob. fr. pro before, for + the root of vincere to conquer. See Victor.
Definitions
  1. (Roman Hist.) A country or region, more or less remote from the city of Rome, brought under the Roman government; a conquered country beyond the limits of Italy. Wyclif (Acts xiii. 34). Milton.
  2. A country or region dependent on a distant authority; a portion of an empire or state, esp. one remote from the capital. "Kingdoms and provinces." Shak.
  3. A region of country; a tract; a district.
    Over many a tract of heaven they marched, and many a province wide. Milton.
    Other provinces of the intellectual world. I. Watts.
  4. A region under the supervision or direction of any special person; the district or division of a country, especially an ecclesiastical division, over which one has jurisdiction; as, the province of Canterbury, or that in which the archbishop of Canterbury exercises ecclesiastical authority.
  5. The proper or appropriate business or duty of a person or body; office; charge; jurisdiction; sphere.
    The woman'sprovince is to be careful in her economy, and chaste in her affection. Tattler.
  6. Specif.: Any political division of the Dominion of Canada, having a governor, a local legislature, and representation in the Dominion parliament. Hence, colloquially, The Provinces, the Dominion of Canada.

Webster 1913