as in countryside
usually backlands plural
a rural region that forms the edge of the settled or developed part of a country
they purposely vacationed in the backlands to get away from people
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of backland
But more migrants, moving farther into remote backlands to elude the Border Patrol, have died in scorching desert heat, a shameful indicator that enforcement is having an effect in many places.
—
Julia Preston, Foreign Affairs, 25 Oct. 2024
His protagonist, living in direst poverty in Brazil’s arid backlands, decides to migrate to the wealthier coast.
—Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 1 Dec. 2019
Born in the arid backlands of Brazil’s north-east, Mr Gilberto arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1950 as a singer in one of the then-fashionable vocal ensembles.
—The Economist, 11 July 2019
Tucked in the emerald backlands of Fayetteville, Georgia, inside a cavernous soundstage at Pinewood Studios, Mara Brock-Akil is in full field marshall mode.
—Jason Parham, WIRED, 19 June 2018
Patrícia Santos da Silva, 24, and her family live in the city of Santana do Ipanema, in the western backlands of Alagoas.
—Sandee Lamotte, CNN, 1 Nov. 2017
Some escaped and formed clandestine communities in the backlands of the rainforest, independent villages known as quilombos.
—Smithsonian, 21 Sep. 2017
Julia Preston, Foreign Affairs, 25 Oct. 2024
His protagonist, living in direst poverty in Brazil’s arid backlands, decides to migrate to the wealthier coast.
—Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 1 Dec. 2019
Born in the arid backlands of Brazil’s north-east, Mr Gilberto arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1950 as a singer in one of the then-fashionable vocal ensembles.
—The Economist, 11 July 2019
Tucked in the emerald backlands of Fayetteville, Georgia, inside a cavernous soundstage at Pinewood Studios, Mara Brock-Akil is in full field marshall mode.
—Jason Parham, WIRED, 19 June 2018
Patrícia Santos da Silva, 24, and her family live in the city of Santana do Ipanema, in the western backlands of Alagoas.
—Sandee Lamotte, CNN, 1 Nov. 2017
Some escaped and formed clandestine communities in the backlands of the rainforest, independent villages known as quilombos.
—Smithsonian, 21 Sep. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for backland
Noun
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Races take place over weeks, and hundreds of miles of countryside.—
Eben Novy-Williams,
Sportico.com,
4 Sep. 2025
-
Raised in the French countryside, where fields of linen bloom each spring, the artist also spent time on the island of Oléron.—
Sofia Celeste,
Footwear News,
3 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
But while Narula initially wanted to keep the grass, Kemp replaced the bushes with woody perennials ‒ red osier dogwoods, a spicebush, sweet pepper bushes, as well as smooth-leaf hydrangeas.—
Eduardo Cuevas,
USA Today,
4 Sep. 2025
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Walkers can take in the staggered plots of orange groves and prickly pear bushes in Marsalforn Valley or soak up the quiet back streets of Gharb, the island’s westernmost town, overlooking Dwerja.—
AFAR Media,
AFAR Media,
28 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
That doesn’t mean Disney and Pixar are waving the white flag of surrender and banishing original storytelling to the hinterlands.—
Pamela McClintock,
HollywoodReporter,
24 June 2025
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On the opposite shore of the lake, the Venetian denomination Bardolino DOC extends on the morainic hills of the hinterland.—
Elisabetta Tosi,
Forbes.com,
23 June 2025
Noun
-
There are endless shallow backwaters along the river to explore and there’s plenty of big water out there, too (Lake Winnieshek, for example, is almost two miles wide in places).—
Alex Robinson,
Outdoor Life,
6 Aug. 2025
-
Vigilant doctors and public health experts in charge of government policy mostly kept the anti-vaxxers relegated to the darker corners of medical discussion, and later to the backwaters of social media.—
Matt Robison,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 July 2025
Noun
-
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed for foreign fighters to join his country’s International Legion, which supplements the army’s ranks to counter Russia’s incursion.—
Rebecca Johns,
Miami Herald,
6 Sep. 2025
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Dryden also represented his country several times, most notably helping Team Canada defeat the Soviet Union in the 1972 Summit Series.—
Jesse Granger,
New York Times,
6 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The event took competitors on a 3,000-kilometer (around 1,864-mile) journey across the Australian outback, from Darwin to Adelaide.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
1 Sep. 2025
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Brothers Nathan and Bub Bright meet for the first time in months at the remote fence line separating their cattle ranches in the lonely outback.—
Kris Slugg,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
24 Aug. 2025
Noun
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The next frontier is Agentic AI, which Gao sees not as an experiment but as a necessity for keeping pace with youth culture.—
Jamie Gutfreund,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
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Cupcake icing and sports drinks — in all their crayon-like colors — are the final frontiers for Nick Scheidler's team.—
Alina Selyukh,
NPR,
8 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Backland.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/backland. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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