rube

noun

ˈrüb How to pronounce rube (audio)
Definition of rubenext
as in hick
an awkward or simple person especially from a small town or the country rural voters were tired of being treated as rubes by state officials, who showed interest in them only at election time

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of rube Harry would be right to be bitter; Sally’s optimism was for rubes. — Alexandra Schwartz, New Yorker, 17 Dec. 2025 As for partisan rubes like Senator Van Hollen, Maryland can do better. — Chris Roemer, Baltimore Sun, 26 June 2025 The rubes in the trad lobby have been snookered—though their final betrayal is yet to come. — Ian Volner, Artforum, 28 May 2025 Bradford sends her off to Alaska, instructing her on how to manipulate Frank, who everybody assumes is a rube. — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019 See All Example Sentences for rube
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rube
  1. hick
  2. bumpkin
  3. clown
  4. yokel
  5. hayseed
  6. peasant
  7. provincial
Noun
  • When Johnson was vice president and visiting Europe, there were reports filed by these British ambassadors in several countries that basically made fun of him as a hick.
    — Wendy Naugle, USA Today, 14 Apr. 2026
  • So a bunch of hicks from Topeka were left up to our own devices of going down to Robert Hall and finding something that might be kind of cool.
    — Devon Ivie, Vulture, 8 Apr. 2026
Definition of hick
Noun
  • Simply put, the small-town bumpkins from North Florida who support this idea should be made to pay for it.
    — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 18 Feb. 2026
  • Clifton loved motorcycles and, as Hawkins said, was a country bumpkin who loved nature.
    — Craig Shoup, Nashville Tennessean, 21 Oct. 2025
Definition of bumpkin
Noun
  • An Illinois teen has been charged with first-degree murder after allegedly committing a deadly stabbing attack while dressed in a clown outfit.
    — Nadine El-Bawab, ABC News, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Tyquan Thornton Tyquan Thornton is not only known for being a speedster, with one of the fastest combine times in history, but a class clown as well.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of clown
Noun
  • It was left to the feds in Boston to arrest Farwell, after Meatball’s local yokels adamantly refused to do anything other than try to broom the crime by one of their own.
    — Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 26 Apr. 2026
  • Part of his way of taking it yokel — besides bringing in Foo Fighter Rami Jaffee on accordion and Willie Aron blowing harmonica — was to add a previously unheard yodel to the chorus.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 27 Oct. 2025
Definition of yokel
Noun
  • Duke Slater, pal of Jim Nabors’ hayseed Gomer Pyle on the ’60s sitcom of that name, died of natural causes today at UCLA Hospital in Los Angeles.
    — Greg Evans, Deadline, 12 June 2026
  • Baby Billy’s first full-frontal scene is more a testament to Walton Goggins’s incredible hayseed bravado in the rule.
    — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 31 Mar. 2025
Definition of hayseed
Noun
  • His mother was a dark-skinned granddaughter of Saint Ann’s enslaved whose peasant kin farmed dasheen and yams.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2026
  • The Euphoria alum’s peasant blouse featured frilly puff sleeves, while her distressed dark-wash jeans came in a baggy cut.
    — Hannah Malach, InStyle, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of peasant
Noun
  • Marlowe, the son of a poor Canterbury cobbler, and Shakespeare, the son of a Stratford glover and alderman, were both unlikely artistic geniuses, provincials in a nation in which social class was rigidly fixed.
    — Heller McAlpin, Christian Science Monitor, 10 Sep. 2025
  • Sanders is a Catholic priest and former Augustinian provincial in California and lives in the Augustinian community in North Park.
    — Gary Sanders, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 May 2025
Definition of provincial

Browse Nearby Words

rubble
rube
rub elbows
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Rube.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rube. Accessed 14 Aug. 2026.

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