as in parochial
not broad or open in views or opinions
some people regard a fear of new things as an unmistakable sign of a provincial attitude
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in peasant
an awkward or simple person especially from a small town or the country
the confidence man figured that fleecing these provincials would be easy
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of provincial
Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 3 Feb. 2025
Dark comedy Fabula, by Dutch director Michiel ten Horn, about a provincial criminal grappling with personal and professional failures, will open the festival, the first Dutch movie to do so since 2018.
—Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 30 Jan. 2025
Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 1 Nov. 2021
Canada’s capital is under two states of emergency, one local and another provincial.
—Washington Post, 12 Feb. 2022
See all Example Sentences for provincial 
Adjective
Binoche starred in Rendez-vous as an eager young actress who flees her provincial home for Paris in search of fame and embarks on a series of turbulent relationships with three men played respectively by Lambert Wilson, Wadeck Stanczak and Jean-Louis Trintignant.
—Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 3 Feb. 2025
Dark comedy Fabula, by Dutch director Michiel ten Horn, about a provincial criminal grappling with personal and professional failures, will open the festival, the first Dutch movie to do so since 2018.
—Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 30 Jan. 2025
Noun
It’s shaped like a classic coming-of-age tale: a young provincial, Eloise Turner (Thomasin McKenzie), goes to the metropolis to realize her dreams and, in the process, has her illusions dispelled.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 1 Nov. 2021
Canada’s capital is under two states of emergency, one local and another provincial.
—Washington Post, 12 Feb. 2022
See all Example Sentences for provincial
Recent Examples of Synonyms for provincial
Adjective
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This may seem like an impossible task in a world where politics is becoming more divisive, foreign policy more parochial, and social media bubbles more impenetrable.—
Harvey Whitehouse,
WIRED,
23 Jan. 2025
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For more than a century, religious education had been deeply entrenched in the state; in Cleveland, the parochial system was one of the largest in the country.—
Alec MacGillis,
ProPublica,
13 Jan. 2025
Noun
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The vast majority were men—rural peasants from Guangdong Province, situated on the southeast coast of China, near Hong Kong.—
Jane Hu,
The New Yorker,
23 Jan. 2025
-
The peewee population interacted with each other in various settings and included bocce bowlers, bare-bottomed peasants, baguette bakers, blind men, the mustachioed mayor, female fishmongers, dunce hat-wearing schoolboys, snail saleswomen, and gobs more characters.—
gqlshare,
Orange County Register,
15 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Is what he’s done a small sample size thing or something more?—
James Mirtle,
The Athletic,
18 Feb. 2025
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The gigs in smaller rooms than Simon has typically played, will allow the singer to perform the songs from Seven Psalms live for the first time.—
Gil Kaufman,
Billboard,
18 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Sorrentino may also be exorcising some conflicting feelings about his birthplace, which is portrayed as a vulgar, crude place populated by crooks and hicks and photographed like its paradise.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
7 Feb. 2025
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In first grade, when a teacher called him a hick, Ciotti threw an inkwell at her.—
D. T. Max,
The New Yorker,
23 Sep. 2024
Adjective
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What does revoking Biden's security clearance accomplish other than satisfy a petty grievance of a childish man?—
Yaakov Katz,
Newsweek,
8 Feb. 2025
-
The purview of his catalogue narrowed, focusing on refining a reputation as a petty king in rap and in relationships.—
Craig Jenkins,
Vulture,
7 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Off-mountain: Skiers who prefer to stay overnight in nearby Driggs, Idaho (a 20-minute drive from Grand Targhee) have a few rustic, albeit comfortable, possibilities.—
Lydia Mansel,
Travel + Leisure,
30 Dec. 2024
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Venues tend to lean rustic in much of Hillsborough County.—
Yacob Reyes,
Axios,
20 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Last night’s special had a comparatively narrow focus, prioritizing the characters and celebrities that many younger viewers would recognize.—
Esther Zuckerman,
The Atlantic,
17 Feb. 2025
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The gap is quite narrow in some places, like Delaware and Maryland, but in places like Kentucky, systemic racial barriers continue to hold people back.—
Ben Berkowitz,
Axios,
17 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Florida yokels versus the elite Hollywood movie-star kind of group.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
26 July 2024
-
Ben’s refusal to stand down for a middle-aged white man seeking to wrest power from him was radical, as was the film’s ending, in which the hero was shot by yokels failing to distinguish him from the zombies previously described as animals.—
Richard Newby,
The Hollywood Reporter,
23 Oct. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near provincial
Cite this Entry
“Provincial.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/provincial. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
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