What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Provincial vs Territorial - What's the difference?

provincial | territorial |

As adjectives the difference between provincial and territorial

is that provincial is of or pertaining to province; constituting a province; as, a provincial government; a provincial dialect while territorial is of, relating to, or restricted to a specific geographic area, or territory.

As nouns the difference between provincial and territorial

is that provincial is a person belonging to a province; one who is provincial while territorial is a non-professional member of a territorial army.

provincial

English

(Webster 1913)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Of or pertaining to province; constituting a province; as, a provincial government; a provincial dialect.
  • Exhibiting the ways or manners of a province; characteristic of the inhabitants of a province.
  • * ,
  • Provincial airs and graces.
  • Not cosmopolitan; countrified; not polished; rude; hence, narrow; illiberal.
  • * Ayliffe,
  • Of or pertaining to an ecclesiastical province, or to the jurisdiction of an archbishop; not ecumenical; as, a provincial synod.
  • (obsolete) Of or pertaining to Provence; Provencal.
  • * ,
  • With two Provincial roses on my razed shoes.
  • limited in outlook; narrow
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person belonging to a province; one who is provincial.
  • (Roman Catholicism) A monastic superior, who, under the general of his order, has the direction of all the religious houses of the same fraternity in a given district, called a province of the order.
  • * 2009 , (Diarmaid MacCulloch), A History of Christianity , Penguin 2010, p. 700:
  • The Franciscan provincial Diego de Landa set up a local Inquisition which unleashed a campaign of interrogation and torture on the Indio population.
  • A country bumpkin.
  • ----

    territorial

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Of, relating to, or restricted to a specific geographic area, or territory
  • (often, capitalized) Organized for home defence - such as the Territorial Army.
  • (biology) Displaying territoriality.
  • Derived terms

    * territorial waters

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • a non-professional member of a Territorial Army
  • ----