n. Originally, a country of considerable extent which, being reduced under Roman dominion, was remodeled, subjected to the rule of a governor sent from Rome, and charged with such taxes and contributions as the Romans saw fit to impose. The earliest Roman province was Sicily.n. An administrative division of a country: as, the provinces of Spain; the former provinces of France; more loosely, any important administrative unit, as one of the governments of Russia or of the crownlands of Austria.n. A part of a country or state as distinguished from the capital or the larger cities; the country: usually in the plural: as, an actor who is starring in the provinces.n. Eccles., the territory within which an arch bishop or a metropolitan exercises jurisdiction: as, the province of Canterbury; the province of Illinois.n. In the Roman Catholic Church, one of the territorial divisions of an ecclesiastical order, as of the Franciscans, or of the Propaganda.n. A region of country; a tract; a large extent.n. The proper duty, office, or business of a person; sphere of action; function.n. A division in any department of knowledge or activity; a department.n. In zoology, a prime division of animals; a phylum; a subkingdom; a branch; a type: as, in Owen's classification, the four provinces — Vertebrate., Articulata, Mollusca, and Radiata. The prime divisions of a province are called subprovinces.n. In zoögeog., a subregion; a faunal area less extensive than a region. Thus, the Nearctic or North American region is zoologically divided into the eastern, middle, and western provinces.