as in countryside
a rural region that forms the edge of the settled or developed part of a country
a distant backwater that didn't even have electricity at that time
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of backwater
Saturated in the heatwave colors of Australia’s scorching Red Center, with its searing blue skies and bright orange sands, Wolfram makes the grim, lawless backwater of Wake in Fright seem positively cosmopolitan by comparison.
—
Damon Wise, Deadline, 17 Feb. 2026
In the hockey world, the borough would go from backwater to mecca.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 10 Feb. 2026
In 2002 Bisignano took charge at a Citi backwater called Global Transactions Services that was then losing $3 billion a year.
—Shawn Tully, Fortune, 31 Jan. 2026
The film takes place in a dreary town in Victoria, Australia, a drab industrial backwater whose people — or, at least some of whom — flock to religion to give their lives the brightness of hope and higher purpose.
—Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 24 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for backwater
Damon Wise, Deadline, 17 Feb. 2026
In the hockey world, the borough would go from backwater to mecca.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 10 Feb. 2026
In 2002 Bisignano took charge at a Citi backwater called Global Transactions Services that was then losing $3 billion a year.
—Shawn Tully, Fortune, 31 Jan. 2026
The film takes place in a dreary town in Victoria, Australia, a drab industrial backwater whose people — or, at least some of whom — flock to religion to give their lives the brightness of hope and higher purpose.
—Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 24 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for backwater
Recent Examples of Synonyms for backwater
Noun
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The insurgents, who operate at ease, crossing borders and dominating much of the countryside in Mali and Burkina Faso, now feel emboldened to target capital cities.—
Ulf Laessing,
semafor.com,
30 Apr. 2026
-
Rivers of Babylon, written in 1991 by the Slovak author Peter Pišťanek, tells the story of a young, simple-minded, and broad-shouldered ex-soldier called Rácz who leaves his impoverished village in the Slovakian countryside to work as the stoker of a hotel in Bratislava.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Even populous British colonies like Virginia and Pennsylvania grew blurry on their western frontiers, where indistinct borders were protected by a few lonely forts.—
Daniel Immerwahr,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
-
The frontiers of materials science, sensing, and engineering offer hope for faster, cheaper, less energy-intensive solutions to this grand challenge.—
Alaina Harkness,
Chicago Tribune,
3 May 2026
Noun
-
Yet lilac bushes can be monsters.—
Beth Botts,
Chicago Tribune,
2 May 2026
-
Although cucumbers and squash plants get big, bush-type varieties can be cultivated in pots and small spaces.—
Lauren Landers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
2 May 2026
Noun
-
Though Baudelaire was influenced by Poe’s macabre imagination, decadence never developed its own school in nineteenth-century America, then still a young country.—
Olivia Kan-Sperling,
Artforum,
2 May 2026
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Want to learn more about faraway countries on free embassy tours?—
Fritz Hahn,
Washington Post,
1 May 2026
Noun
-
On arrival, guests are paired with a personal local guide–think of it as the hinterland’s answer to a butler—on hand to arrange everything from restaurant bookings to last-minute requests, typically handled with a quick text.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
23 Apr. 2026
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Moreover, as soon as Christianity began to spread outside his native land, Christian converts faced new situations in unexpected contexts, completely different from those of their founder, an itinerant Jewish preacher in the sparsely populated hinterlands of rural Galilee.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
26 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The Deb dispute is playing out across different fronts in Los Angeles and Australia, overshadowing the feel-good movie about outback teens attending a debutante ball.—
Jake Kanter,
Deadline,
28 Apr. 2026
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The changes bring a bit of the Australian outback to the zoo for koalas, which are an endangered species.—
Cody Jackson,
Sun Sentinel,
24 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Backwater.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/backwater. Accessed 4 May. 2026.
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