From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthe provincesthe provincesSGthe parts of a country that are not near the capital → province
Examples from the Corpus
the provinces• Poor boys from the provinces could rise above the sons of tycoons if only they could pass the Todai entrance exam.• Her parents were not Parisians, they came from the provinces and Jeanne herself combined innocence with imaginative courage.• Rilke in Paris For the shy young man from the provinces life began seven floors up.• In 1789-90 the conviction rate in London was 79 percent and in the provinces 85 percent.• Life in the provinces was difficult.• In view of the unorthodox behaviour of the Komsomol that we have noted in the provinces, such a move was overdue.• In the provinces it took a little time before London fashions were adopted.• It also indicated that a referendum might well be held on the package prior to its submission to the provinces.• Yet after 1750 this group came to acquire a special connection with the provinces through its links with the country banks. 