Provincial

Provincial has two basic meanings.

It can refer to someone who has a limited, restricted, or non-sophisticated mentality or habits, stereotypical of an inhabitant of "the provinces" (areas distant from the national capital). See: parochialism

The other basic meaning is anything related to a province, a formal geographical division, a country or a church, or any part of a country outside the national capital as noted above. In countries with powerful provincial loyalties the word lacks the negative connotation noted above. More specifically, provincial can refer to:

• Provincial examinations, a school-leaving exam in British Columbia, Canada
• A provincial superior of a religious order
• The Provincial sector of British Rail, which was later renamed Regional Railways
• Provincial Airlines, a Canadian airline
• Provincial park, the equivalent of national parks in the Canadian provinces
• Provincial city, a type of city in the People's Republic of China
• Provincial Secretary, a position in Canadian government
• Provincial Reconstruction Team, a military unit used by Western forced in Afghanistan
• Provincial council, Gaelic athletics councils in Ireland
• Member of Provincial Parliament, a title for legislators in Ontario, Canada as well as Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
• Sub-provincial city in the People's Republic of China
• Provincial Court, a type of law court in Canada
• Provincial symbols by Countries, such as Canada
• Provincial (soldier), a type of regular recruited by the British in their American colonies for service there.