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
Unlike Bacalar, which is relatively new to tourism, Tulum has been transformed from a sleepy backwater into a pumping party town.
—
Simon Willis, Travel + Leisure, 5 Oct. 2025
Like certain heroines of Henry James, her favorite writer, Alice flaunted a chic that was notable in a backwater.
—Judith Thurman, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025
The Israeli strike was a course correction for US foreign policy that has elevated Doha from a backwater to a global mediation center, Lee Smith writes in the conservative, pro-Israel Tablet Magazine.
—Hadley Gamble, semafor.com, 15 Sep. 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for backwater
Simon Willis, Travel + Leisure, 5 Oct. 2025
Like certain heroines of Henry James, her favorite writer, Alice flaunted a chic that was notable in a backwater.
—Judith Thurman, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025
The Israeli strike was a course correction for US foreign policy that has elevated Doha from a backwater to a global mediation center, Lee Smith writes in the conservative, pro-Israel Tablet Magazine.
—Hadley Gamble, semafor.com, 15 Sep. 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for backwater
Recent Examples of Synonyms for backwater
Noun
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Alan Cumming and his extravagant outfits are back, hosting a brand new group of 23 Traitors and Faithfuls in the Scottish countryside.—
Rebecca Aizin,
PEOPLE,
9 Jan. 2026
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Think clawfoot tubs overlooking rolling countryside and sliding barn doors separating farmhouse chic living spaces.—
Tara Massouleh McCay,
Southern Living,
8 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Strategics keep sharpening their focus on India as a next frontier for beauty.—
Jennifer Weil,
Footwear News,
13 Jan. 2026
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Across industries and institutions, people are confronting an unfamiliar frontier.—
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,
Time,
10 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Now the birds’ favored nesting habitats, the native pisonia trees and octopus bushes, are back.—
Susan Casey,
Travel + Leisure,
10 Jan. 2026
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The tracks of Eastern cottontail are also a common sight — especially near thickets of chokecherry, elderberry and other bushes that provide safe shelter.—
Susan Koch,
Chicago Tribune,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Hollywood couple Meagan Good and Jonathan Majors received Guinean citizenship after tracing their ancestry to the West African country through DNA testing.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
11 Jan. 2026
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Our country is built on immigrants.—
Michael Loria,
USA Today,
11 Jan. 2026
Noun
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In Virginia, a dissident hinterland landowner named Nathaniel Bacon led a revolt by aggrieved Colonists that torched the English provincial capital at Jamestown.—
Peter C. Mancall,
The Conversation,
9 Jan. 2026
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Sellew is a bold new voice, using sharp, stylish prose to explore the hinterland of contemporary mating.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
6 Jan. 2026
Noun
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While locations like a solar panel farm in the Australian outback fit the bill for near-future ground war, the result mostly feels sterile, amounting to a bunch of empty pathways bathed in stark daylight.—
Christopher Cruz,
Rolling Stone,
7 Oct. 2025
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The blood-pumping thriller starts with a man and his young son arriving at a rave in the Moroccan outback looking for their daughter/sister.—
Rafa Sales Ross,
Variety,
19 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Backwater.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/backwater. Accessed 15 Jan. 2026.
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