Difference Wiki

Province vs. State

Edited by Huma Saeed || By Sawaira Riaz || Updated on September 27, 2023
A province is a territorial unit, often a division within a country, while a state can be an independent sovereign entity or a similar territorial and political unit within a federation.

Key Differences

In terms of international relations and sovereignty, a province does not possess sovereignty and cannot conduct foreign relations or have its military. A state, particularly when referring to a sovereign state, has full sovereignty, can conduct foreign relations, have its military, and is a subject of international law. In federal systems, while individual states do not conduct foreign relations independently, they still retain a level of sovereignty and have more autonomy compared to provinces.
Harlon Moss
Sep 27, 2023
A province and a state are both geopolitical entities, typically representing regions within a country. A province is often understood as a subdivision or a territorial unit within a country, particularly in countries with a parliamentary system. It has its own local government but is subordinate to the central government. A state, on the other hand, can represent a sovereign political entity that is subject to international law and can also be a primary territorial unit within a federal system, having its government with a degree of autonomy.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 27, 2023
The concept of a province is usually found in countries like Canada and Italy, where the central government retains significant powers, and the provinces have authority over specific matters delegated to them. In contrast, the concept of a state is prevalent in countries like the United States and Australia, where states have considerable powers and operate under a federal system of governance. States have their constitution and can legislate on a wide range of matters, often having more autonomy compared to provinces.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 27, 2023
When it comes to governance, a province usually has a governor or a premier appointed by the central government or elected by the provincial legislature, depending on the country's constitutional setup. In contrast, a state has its governor and can have a fully functioning government complete with an executive, legislative, and judicial branch, reflecting more sovereignty and self-governance compared to a province.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 27, 2023

Comparison Chart

Definition

A territorial unit within a country.
A sovereign entity or a territorial unit within a federation.
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Sep 27, 2023

Level of Autonomy

Typically has less autonomy than a state.
Has more autonomy, particularly in federal systems.
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Sep 27, 2023
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Governance

Governed by a local government subordinate to the central government.
Has its government, often with a high degree of autonomy.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 27, 2023

Sovereignty

Does not possess sovereignty.
Possesses sovereignty (in the case of sovereign states).
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 27, 2023

Presence of Constitution

Rarely has its constitution.
Often has its constitution (in federal systems).
Harlon Moss
Sep 27, 2023

Province and State Definitions

Province

A region marked by cultural or governmental distinction.
The province of Punjab is known for its vibrant culture.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 27, 2023

State

A nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government.
The United States is composed of 50 individual states.
Harlon Moss
Sep 27, 2023

Province

A country or region brought under the control of ancient Rome.
Sicily was one of Rome's earliest provinces.
Harlon Moss
Sep 27, 2023
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State

A condition or way of being that exists at a particular time.
The building is in a state of disrepair.
Harlon Moss
Sep 27, 2023

Province

A sphere of activity or domain.
Solving this issue is within the province of the legal department.
Janet White
Sep 27, 2023

State

A sovereign political entity.
Each state has its representatives in the United Nations.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 27, 2023

Province

A territorial unit within a country.
Quebec is a province in Canada.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 27, 2023

State

One of the territories constituting a nation.
California is a state known for its diverse landscapes.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 27, 2023

Province

An administrative district or division.
The province has its governance structures to manage local affairs.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 27, 2023
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State

To express something definitely or clearly in speech or writing.
The objectives should be stated clearly.
Aimie Carlson
Sep 27, 2023

Province

A territory governed as an administrative or political unit of a country or empire.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

A condition or mode of being, as with regard to circumstances
The office was in a state of confusion.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

Province

(Ecclesiastical) A division of territory under the jurisdiction of a metropolitan.
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Mar 24, 2023

State

A condition of being in a stage or form, as of structure, growth, or development
The fetal state.
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Mar 24, 2023

Province

Provinces Areas of a country situated away from the capital or population center.
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Mar 24, 2023

State

A mental or emotional condition
In a manic state.
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Mar 24, 2023

Province

An area of knowledge, activity, or interest
A topic falling within the province of ancient history.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

(Informal) A condition of excitement or distress
Was in a state over going to the prom.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

Province

The range of one's proper duties and functions; scope.
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Mar 24, 2023

State

Social position or rank.
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Mar 24, 2023

Province

(Ecology) An area of land, less extensive than a region, having a characteristic plant and animal population.
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Mar 24, 2023

State

(Physics) The condition of a physical system with regard to phase, form, composition, or structure
Ice is the solid state of water.
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Mar 24, 2023

Province

Any of various lands outside Italy conquered by the Romans and administered by them as self-contained units.
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State

Ceremony; pomp
Foreign leaders dining in state at the White House.
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Mar 24, 2023

Province

A region of the earth or of a continent; a district or country.
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Mar 24, 2023

State

The supreme public power within a sovereign political entity
The state intervening in the economy.
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Mar 24, 2023

Province

An administrative subdivision of certain countries, including Canada and China.
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State

The sphere of supreme civil power within a given polity
Matters of state.
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Mar 24, 2023

Province

(Roman history) An area outside Italy which is administered by a Roman governor.
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State

A specific kind of government
The socialist state.
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Mar 24, 2023

Province

(Christianity) An area under the jurisdiction of an archbishop, typically comprising a number of adjacent dioceses.
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Mar 24, 2023

State

A body politic, especially one constituting a nation
The states of Eastern Europe.
Sawaira Riaz
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Province

(Roman Catholicism) An area under the jurisdiction of a provincial within a monastic order.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

One of the more or less internally autonomous territorial and political units composing a federation under a sovereign government
The 48 contiguous states of the Union.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

Province

The parts of a country outside its capital city.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

Of or relating to a body politic or to an internally autonomous territorial or political unit constituting a federation under one government
A monarch dealing with state matters.
The department that handles state security.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

Province

An area of activity, responsibility or knowledge; the proper concern of a particular person or concept.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

Owned and operated by a state
State universities.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

Province

A country or region, more or less remote from the city of Rome, brought under the Roman government; a conquered country beyond the limits of Italy.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

To set forth in words; declare.
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Mar 24, 2023

Province

A country or region dependent on a distant authority; a portion of an empire or state, esp. one remote from the capital.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
A state of being
A state of emergency
Sawaira Riaz
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Province

A region of country; a tract; a district.
Over many a tractof heaven they marched, and many a province wide.
Other provinces of the intellectual world.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

(physics) A complete description of a system, consisting of parameters that determine all properties of the system.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

Province

A region under the supervision or direction of any special person; the district or division of a country, especially an ecclesiastical division, over which one has jurisdiction; as, the province of Canterbury, or that in which the archbishop of Canterbury exercises ecclesiastical authority.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

A mess; disorder.
Absolute state
In a state
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

Province

The proper or appropriate business or duty of a person or body; office; charge; jurisdiction; sphere.
The woman'sprovince is to be careful in her economy, and chaste in her affection.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

(computing) The stable condition of a processor during a particular clock cycle.
In the fetch state, the address of the next instruction is placed on the address bus.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

Province

Specif.: Any political division of the Dominion of Canada, having a governor, a local legislature, and representation in the Dominion parliament. Hence, colloquially, The Provinces, the Dominion of Canada.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

(computing) The set of all parameters relevant to a computation.
The state here includes a set containing all names seen so far.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

Province

The territory occupied by one of the constituent administrative districts of a nation;
His state is in the deep south
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

(computing) The values of all parameters at some point in a computation.
A debugger can show the state of a program at any breakpoint.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

Province

The proper sphere or extent of your activities;
It was his province to take care of himself
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

(sciences) The physical property of matter as solid, liquid, gas or plasma.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

(obsolete) Highest and stationary condition, as that of maturity between growth and decline, or as that of crisis between the increase and the abating of a disease; height; acme.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

High social standing or circumstance.
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Mar 24, 2023

State

Pomp, ceremony, or dignity.
In state
The President's body will lie in state at the Capitol.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

Rank; condition; quality.
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Mar 24, 2023

State

Condition of prosperity or grandeur; wealthy or prosperous circumstances; social importance.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

A chair with a canopy above it, often standing on a dais; a seat of dignity; also, the canopy itself.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

(obsolete) A great person, a dignitary; a lord or prince.
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State

(obsolete) Estate, possession.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

A polity.
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Mar 24, 2023

State

Any sovereign polity; a national or city-state government.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

A political division of a federation retaining a notable degree of autonomy, as in the United States, Mexico, Nigeria, or India.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

(obsolete) A form of government other than a monarchy.
Sawaira Riaz
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State

(anthropology) A society larger than a tribe. A society large enough to form a state in the sense of a government.
Sawaira Riaz
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State

An element of the range of the random variables that define a random process.
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State

The lexical aspect (aktionsart) of verbs or predicates that do not change over time.
Sawaira Riaz
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State

(transitive) To declare to be a fact.
He stated that he was willing to help.
Sawaira Riaz
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State

(transitive) To make known.
State your intentions.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

(obsolete) Stately.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

The circumstances or condition of a being or thing at any given time.
State is a term nearly synonymous with "mode," but of a meaning more extensive, and is not exclusively limited to the mutable and contingent.
Declare the past and present state of things.
Keep the state of the question in your eye.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

Rank; condition; quality; as, the state of honor.
Thy honor, state, and seat is due to me.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

Condition of prosperity or grandeur; wealthy or prosperous circumstances; social importance.
She instructed him how he should keep state, and yet with a modest sense of his misfortunes.
Can this imperious lord forget to reign,Quit all his state, descend, and serve again?
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

Appearance of grandeur or dignity; pomp.
Where least of state there most of love is shown.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

A chair with a canopy above it, often standing on a dais; a seat of dignity; also, the canopy itself.
His high throne, . . . under stateOf richest texture spread.
When he went to court, he used to kick away the state, and sit down by his prince cheek by jowl.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

Estate; possession.
Your state, my lord, again is yours.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

A person of high rank.
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State

The principal persons in a government.
The bold designPleased highly those infernal states.
Sawaira Riaz
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State

The bodies that constitute the legislature of a country; as, the States-general of Holland.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

A form of government which is not monarchial, as a republic.
Well monarchies may own religion's name,But states are atheists in their very fame.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

A political body, or body politic; the whole body of people who are united under one government, whatever may be the form of the government; a nation.
Municipal law is a rule of conduct prescribed by the supreme power in a state.
The Puritans in the reign of Mary, driven from their homes, sought an asylum in Geneva, where they found a state without a king, and a church without a bishop.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

In the United States, one of the commonwealths, or bodies politic, the people of which make up the body of the nation, and which, under the national constitution, stand in certain specified relations with the national government, and are invested, as commonwealths, with full power in their several spheres over all matters not expressly inhibited.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

Highest and stationary condition, as that of maturity between growth and decline, or as that of crisis between the increase and the abating of a disease; height; acme.
I do not, brother,Infer as if I thought my sister's stateSecure without all doubt or controversy.
We hoped to enjoy with ease what, in our situation, might be called the luxuries of life.
And, O, what man's condition can be worseThan his whom plenty starves and blessings curse?
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

A statement; also, a document containing a statement.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

Stately.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

Belonging to the state, or body politic; public.
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State

To set; to settle; to establish.
I myself, though meanest stated,And in court now almost hated.
Who calls the council, states the certain day.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

To express the particulars of; to set down in detail or in gross; to represent fully in words; to narrate; to recite; as, to state the facts of a case, one's opinion, etc.
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

The group of people comprising the government of a sovereign state;
The state has lowered its income tax
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

The territory occupied by one of the constituent administrative districts of a nation;
His state is in the deep south
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

A politically organized body of people under a single government;
The state has elected a new president
African nations
Students who had come to the nation's capitol
The country's largest manufacturer
An industrialized land
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

The way something is with respect to its main attributes;
The current state of knowledge
His state of health
In a weak financial state
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

The federal department in the UnitedStates that sets and maintains foreign policies;
The Department of State was created in 1789
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

The territory occupied by a nation;
He returned to the land of his birth
He visited several European countries
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

A state of depression or agitation;
He was in such a state you just couldn't reason with him
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

(chemistry) the three traditional states of matter are solids (fixed shape and volume) and liquids (fixed volume and shaped by the container) and gases (filling the container);
The solid state of water is called ice
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

Express in words;
He said that he wanted to marry her
Tell me what is bothering you
State your opinion
State your name
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

Put before;
I submit to you that the accused is guilty
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

State

Indicate through a symbol, formula, etc.;
Can you express this distance in kilometers?
Sawaira Riaz
Mar 24, 2023

FAQs

Is a province generally subordinate to a central government?

Yes, a province is typically subordinate to a central government.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 27, 2023

Do both province and state represent territorial units within a country?

Yes, both province and state can represent territorial units within a country.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 27, 2023

Can provinces conduct foreign relations independently?

No, provinces do not have sovereignty and cannot conduct independent foreign relations.
Harlon Moss
Sep 27, 2023

Is the concept of a province common in parliamentary systems?

Yes, the concept of a province is often found in countries with parliamentary systems.
Janet White
Sep 27, 2023

Do provinces usually have less legislative power than states?

Yes, provinces typically have less legislative power compared to states.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 27, 2023

Can a province be a region with cultural distinction?

Yes, a province can be a region marked by cultural or governmental distinction.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 27, 2023

Can a state be a sovereign entity?

Yes, a state can be a sovereign political entity.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 27, 2023

Do states in a federal system have significant legislative powers?

Yes, states in a federal system often have significant legislative powers.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 27, 2023

Is a state often more autonomous than a province?

Yes, in federal systems, a state usually has more autonomy compared to a province.
Aimie Carlson
Sep 27, 2023

Do states in a federation have their constitution?

Yes, states within a federal system often have their constitution.
Samantha Walker
Sep 27, 2023

Does a state have its government?

Yes, a state has its own government with a degree of autonomy.
Aimie Carlson
Sep 27, 2023

Can the word state also refer to a condition or way of being?

Yes, the word state can also denote a condition or way of being.
Aimie Carlson
Sep 27, 2023

Are provinces present in countries like Canada and Italy?

Yes, provinces are territorial units in countries like Canada and Italy.
Samantha Walker
Sep 27, 2023
About Author
Written by
Sawaira Riaz
Sawaira is a dedicated content editor at difference.wiki, where she meticulously refines articles to ensure clarity and accuracy. With a keen eye for detail, she upholds the site's commitment to delivering insightful and precise content.
Edited by
Huma Saeed
Huma is a renowned researcher acclaimed for her innovative work in Difference Wiki. Her dedication has led to key breakthroughs, establishing her prominence in academia. Her contributions continually inspire and guide her field.

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