【Field】 , 【domain】 ,  【province】 ,  【sphere】 ,  【territory】 ,  【bailiwick】  are comparable when they denote the limits in which a person, an institution, or a department of knowledge, of art, or of human endeavor appropriately or necessarily confines his or its activity or influence and outside of which by implication he or it may not or should not go.

【Field】  implies restriction by choice or by necessity, but it seldom suggests permanent limitation <a European war narrows the  【field】  of commerce for neutral American nations>  <he chose the development of industries in the South as his  【field】  of investigation>  <the philosopher and the practical man … each is in his own  【field】 , supreme —Buckle >  <a writer whose reputation … has been pretty much confined to the whodunit  【field】  —Kelly >

【Domain】  is used chiefly in reference to departments of knowledge, of art, and of human endeavor viewed abstractly; it implies exclusive possession and control of a clearly defined 【field】 and a title to regard all outside interference or all intrusion into that 【field】 as trespass or invasion <the  【domain】  of science>  <the  【domain】  of the spiritual>  <what is the difference between the legitimate music of verse and the music it attains by trespassing on the  【domain】  of a sister art? —Babbitt >  <those who believe in the reality of a world of the spirit—the poet, the artist, the mystic—are at one in believing that there are other domains than that of physics —Jeans >

【Province】  is used in reference not only to the arts and sciences, each of which may be said to have its own 【domain】 , but also to a person or institution that because of his or its office, aims, or special character can be said to have jurisdiction, competence, power, or influence within clearly defined limits <it is within the  【province】  of a parent rather than of a teacher to discipline a pupil for misconduct out of school>  <it is often stated that art goes beyond its  【province】  when it attempts to teach morals>  <the almost impertinently realistic explorations into behavior which are the  【province】  of the psychiatrist —Sapir >   【Province】  is also used in the sense of function (see also FUNCTION 1 ) and in the sense of a part of a larger 【domain】  <I should like the reader to accept engineering as a  【province】  of physics: so that the feats of the one may serve as credentials for the discoveries of the other —Darrow >

【Sphere】 , even more than  【domain】 , throws emphasis on clear circumscription of limits; it therefore suggests apartness rather than fundamental differences and carries no hint of danger of trespass or interference <the aesthetic and ethical spheres … were never sharply distinguished by the Greeks —Dickinson >  <in the  【sphere】  of morals we must often be content to wait until our activity is completed to appreciate its beauty or its ugliness —Ellis >  <in the life of a man whose circumstances and talents are not very exceptional there should be a large  【sphere】  where what is vaguely termed "herd instinct" dominates, and a small  【sphere】  into which it does not penetrate —Russell >  <a long and profound process of social change … but this time in the economic  【sphere】  —Strachey >

【Territory】  comes very close to  【domain】  in implying a 【field】 possessed and controlled and regarded as one’s own; it does not, however, carry the implications so strong in  【domain】  of rightful ownership, of sovereignty, and of the title to inviolability; it may even suggest that the 【field】 has been usurped or taken over by the science, art, or activity in question <prose has preempted a lion’s share of the  【territory】  once held, either in sovereignty or on equal terms, by poetry —Lowes >  <if passageways connect the 【domain】 of physics with the domains of life or of spirit, physics ought in time to discover these passageways, for they start from her own  【territory】  —Jeans >

【Bailiwick】 , basically the jurisdiction of a bailiff, is increasingly used in an extended and playful sense in reference to an individual and the special and limited 【province】 or 【domain】 in which he may or does exercise authority. It often also carries a connotation of petty yet despotic display of power <a politician whose influence does not extend beyond his own  【bailiwick】  >  <he will not get along with others until he learns to keep within his own  【bailiwick】  >  <we may neither be angry nor gay in the presence of the moon, nor may we dare to think in her  【bailiwick】  —Stephens >  <the largest problems are in the  【bailiwick】  of the social scientist —Street >