1. to make provincial in character; to cause to have a narrow, local outlook
Usage: formal
2. to reduce from the status of a state or territory to that of a province
Usage: political; formal

Examples

• The isolation began to provincialize the once-worldly community.
• Critics argued that the policy would provincialize the region’s outlook.
• The government’s decision to provincialize the territory sparked protests.
• Years of limited contact with the outside world had provincialized their perspectives.
• The reform movement sought to provincialize certain administrative regions.
• Economic decline can provincialize a formerly cosmopolitan city.