hinterland
noun
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When you're dealing with geography, it helps to know your hinterland from your umland. In the late 19th century, geographer George Chisholm took note of the German word Hinterland (literally "land in back of") and applied it specifically to the region just inland from a port or coastal settlement. (Chisholm spelled the word hinderland, but English speakers eventually settled on hinterland.) Early in the 20th century, another geographer adopted the German Umland ("land around") to refer to the territory around an inland town. What hinterland and umland have in common is a reference to a region economically tied to a nearby city. Nowadays, hinterland has a less technical use as well—it can be used for land that is simply out in the sticks. It can also be applied figuratively.
Examples of hinterland in a Sentence
Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025
If Washington would not acknowledge what was happening in the hinterland, then the hinterland would come to Washington.
—David McWilliams, Fortune, 16 Nov. 2025
The world out there is a kind of hinterland that isn’t well known.
—Literary Hub, 13 Nov. 2025
The disparity in this AFC East rivalry is entrenched, too, with Jets having lost 13 of past 14 trips to the hinterland of Foxboro.
—Greg Cote
november 12, Miami Herald, 12 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hinterland
Cite this Entry
“Hinterland.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hinterland. Accessed 5 Dec. 2025.
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hinterland
noun
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