provincial.

1. Relating to a province or region, or associated with places outside the principal national centers.

2. Limited in outlook or considered unsophisticated, used evaluatively.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• provincial town
• provincial capital
• provincial outlook

On the page

The provincial museum held the largest textile collection in the country.

He dismissed the town as provincial before discovering its international theater festival.

She moved from the national capital to a provincial city with a slower daily rhythm.

Usage notes

Primary category: setting. Geographical sense can be neutral; when describing taste or outlook, often disparaging for narrowness or lack of worldly experience. A provincial town need not be unsophisticated. Usually non-gradable in geographical use; more provincial / most provincial in the evaluative sense.