PAROCHIAL Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
While it’s far from a given that small towns foster narrow-mindedness, the limited range of opportunities and experiences in such places when compared to those of bigger burgs is at the heart of the figurative sense of parochial. In Late Latin, parochia was the designation for a group of Christians in a given area under the leadership of one pastor—what came to be known in English as a parish in the 14th century. Both parish and its related adjective parochial were borrowed at that time directly from Anglo-French terms that came from parochia. It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that parochial expanded beyond the borders of its literal sense to describe attitudes, beliefs, mentalities, outlooks, etc., considered limited or narrow, confined or restricted, as if within a single parish. Middle English parochiall, from Anglo-French parochial, from Late Latin parochialis, from parochia parish — more at PARISH 14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1 Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for Ju