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
His fiction is set all over the place—genteel backwaters like Miami, Hollywood, and Atlantic City, with excursions as far afield as the Dominican Republic, Italy, and Israel.
—
Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 30 June 2025
Having set up this backwater office where nothing ever happens and then bring death to the door was a brilliant stroke.
—Patrick Hipes, Deadline, 17 June 2025
In 2001, Michael Dorrell volunteered to move from the Sydney headquarters of Australian investment bank Macquarie to a backwater in its infrastructure investing specialty: the United States of America.
—Hank Tucker, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025
The weather service said backwater flooding along the Little Miami, Great Miami and Licking rivers will also result in road closures.
—Quinlan Bentley, Cincinnati Enquirer, 7 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for backwater
Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 30 June 2025
Having set up this backwater office where nothing ever happens and then bring death to the door was a brilliant stroke.
—Patrick Hipes, Deadline, 17 June 2025
In 2001, Michael Dorrell volunteered to move from the Sydney headquarters of Australian investment bank Macquarie to a backwater in its infrastructure investing specialty: the United States of America.
—Hank Tucker, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025
The weather service said backwater flooding along the Little Miami, Great Miami and Licking rivers will also result in road closures.
—Quinlan Bentley, Cincinnati Enquirer, 7 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for backwater
Recent Examples of Synonyms for backwater
Noun
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Races take place over weeks, and hundreds of miles of countryside.—
Eben Novy-Williams,
Sportico.com,
4 Sep. 2025
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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
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Like all new frontiers, the college athletics landscape brings massive opportunity.—
Nick LoMaglio,
Forbes.com,
29 Aug. 2025
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Artificial intelligence is pushing the frontiers of science and technology—piloting military drones, diagnosing diseases, and designing enzymes that devour plastic waste.—
Harry Booth,
Time,
28 Aug. 2025
Noun
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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
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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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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
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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
Cite this Entry
“Backwater.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/backwater. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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