backlands

noun

plural of backland
as in countryside
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for backlands
  1. countryside
  2. bush
  3. hinterland
  4. country
  5. backwater
  6. frontier
  7. outback
Noun
  • Over the years, the Cotswolds, in the English countryside, have become a retreat for numerous celebrities, including Jeremy Clarkson, David and Victoria Beckham, and Kate Moss.
    — Stefania Conrieri, Vanity Fair, 6 Nov. 2026
  • The sweeping wins were driven by a rare coalition of voters across nearly all walks of American life, in cities and countryside, from the rural Midwest and Deep South to a traditionally conservative mid-Atlantic.
    — Justine McDaniel, Los Angeles Times, 4 Nov. 2026
Definition of countryside
Noun
  • Trees, shrubs, bushes, and hedges add beauty, privacy, and seasonal interest and they can be used in different ways.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 6 Nov. 2026
  • Meals are prepared in-house and feature seasonal Alaska ingredients, such as Copper River king salmon and low-bush cranberries that the chef team foraged.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 3 Nov. 2026
Definition of bush
Noun
  • In the hinterlands of Patagonia, ranching outposts tend to share a common set of features.
    — Jordan Salama, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
  • His solo debut, Heavy Metal, landed softly in the December hinterlands of 2024, and with it a murmuration of these little fibs.
    — Walden Green, Pitchfork, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of hinterland
Noun
  • This raised concerns that European countries might be sidelined in negotiations over their own security.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 9 Nov. 2026
  • Delegates are expected to focus on carrying out existing climate pledges, expanding renewable energy and helping poorer countries adapt to rising temperatures and extreme weather.
    — Suzan Fraser, Los Angeles Times, 9 Nov. 2026
Definition of country
Noun
  • The cosmonauts plonked down on November 19th, 1965 in the Midlands market town of Rugby, a cultural backwater best known for the sport, the school, and wartime poet Rupert Brooke, in that order.
    — Gabriel Szatan, Pitchfork, 18 Oct. 2026
  • Navigate the biodiverse backwaters of Choctawhatchee Bay or visit Destin, the perfect beach town for kiteboarding and snorkeling.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of backwater
Noun
  • Away from the final frontier, Mark can be found walking his dog along the country lanes of England’s Cotswolds.
    — Mark Piesing, Space.com, 4 Nov. 2026
  • The trade is wobbling as concerns about frontier model profitability, capital expenditures, corporate cash balances, debt levels among smaller cloud companies and macroeconomic factors weigh on investor confidence.
    — Tobias Burns, CNBC, 3 Nov. 2026
Definition of frontier
Noun
  • But unlike most Israeli expatriates, his return voyage was a 10,000-mile, 30-plus-hour odyssey from a remote sheep station in the Australian outback to his village in the Galilee, in northern Israel.
    — Dina Kraft, Christian Science Monitor, 27 Oct. 2026
  • Miami Beach, once an outback on the map of the international art world, is now able to make an argument for itself as a cultural hub.
    — Brian Boucher for Artnet News, Robb Report, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of outback
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.

Browse Nearby Words

backland
backlands
backlash
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Backlands.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/backlands. Accessed 11 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of valorous

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

31 Useful Rhetorical Devices

More Commonly Misspelled Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Longest Long Words List

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
woman sitting on floor holding book in front of her face on pink background
Famous Novels, Last Lines Quiz Needless to say, spoiler alert.
See All