as in hick
an awkward or simple person especially from a small town or the country
though educated and sophisticated, the country singer always put on the facade of an amiable hayseed when in public
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Recent Examples of hayseed
Using his Hollywood makeup father’s prosthetics, Holliday transforms himself into hayseed-like Chad Powers.
—
Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 30 Sep. 2025
Baby Billy’s first full-frontal scene is more a testament to Walton Goggins’s incredible hayseed bravado in the rule.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 31 Mar. 2025
The movie depicts Nashville as a town full of hayseeds who are bamboozled by the fast-talking Reynolds.
—Keith Sharon, Nashville Tennessean, 2 Feb. 2025
Mantle was the voluble hayseed from Oklahoma who could hit anything but was corrupted by the big city, and wound up undone by alcohol and knee injuries.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 21 June 2024
Today, the variety shows’ wise-clown hayseeds (overalls, prosthetic teeth, silly hats, no shoes) are the ones who get all the good lines, whose material is distinctive in its political sensibility and cultural hobbyhorses.
—Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harper's Magazine, 30 Mar. 2024
Grey Henson and Ashley D. Kelley as the gleeful Storytellers, Kevin Cahoon as a hayseed philosopher and Caroline Innerbichler as the requisite ingenue all joyfully indulge the cheeky, harmlessly off-color vibe.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 20 Apr. 2023
Sort of like how Axl Rose is some hayseed with chops like Chopin.
—Mike Postalakis, SPIN, 3 Aug. 2022
To share the workload, and also to teach him how to do everything, Jeremy brings on an uneducated 21-year-old blond hayseed named Kaleb who sports a series of increasingly dire haircuts as the series goes on.
—Kyle Smith, National Review, 8 Aug. 2021
Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 30 Sep. 2025
Baby Billy’s first full-frontal scene is more a testament to Walton Goggins’s incredible hayseed bravado in the rule.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 31 Mar. 2025
The movie depicts Nashville as a town full of hayseeds who are bamboozled by the fast-talking Reynolds.
—Keith Sharon, Nashville Tennessean, 2 Feb. 2025
Mantle was the voluble hayseed from Oklahoma who could hit anything but was corrupted by the big city, and wound up undone by alcohol and knee injuries.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 21 June 2024
Today, the variety shows’ wise-clown hayseeds (overalls, prosthetic teeth, silly hats, no shoes) are the ones who get all the good lines, whose material is distinctive in its political sensibility and cultural hobbyhorses.
—Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harper's Magazine, 30 Mar. 2024
Grey Henson and Ashley D. Kelley as the gleeful Storytellers, Kevin Cahoon as a hayseed philosopher and Caroline Innerbichler as the requisite ingenue all joyfully indulge the cheeky, harmlessly off-color vibe.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 20 Apr. 2023
Sort of like how Axl Rose is some hayseed with chops like Chopin.
—Mike Postalakis, SPIN, 3 Aug. 2022
To share the workload, and also to teach him how to do everything, Jeremy brings on an uneducated 21-year-old blond hayseed named Kaleb who sports a series of increasingly dire haircuts as the series goes on.
—Kyle Smith, National Review, 8 Aug. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hayseed
Noun
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Which is to say, this isn’t the story of a greedy, materialistic man who suffers a crisis of conscience while trying to pry a priceless treasure away from an uneducated hick who doesn’t know any better.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
29 Oct. 2025
-
Ricky develops romantic feelings for Chad even though Russ plays him as a soft-spoken, possibly dim rural hick who may well be a literal man-child.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
29 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Part of his way of taking it yokel — besides bringing in Foo Fighter Rami Jaffee on accordion and Willie Aron blowing harmonica — was to add a previously unheard yodel to the chorus.—
Chris Willman,
Variety,
27 Oct. 2025
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It was adapted into a huge hit movie starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray, but the breakout characters were local yokels Ma and Pa Kettle, who went on to star in eight spinoff movies.—
Brian Boone,
Vulture,
18 June 2025
Noun
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Simply put, the small-town bumpkins from North Florida who support this idea should be made to pay for it.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
18 Feb. 2026
-
Clifton loved motorcycles and, as Hawkins said, was a country bumpkin who loved nature.—
Craig Shoup,
Nashville Tennessean,
21 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
In South America, Incan peasants were subject to a labor draft called the mita, which was later taken over by the Spanish conquistadores.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
25 Mar. 2026
-
Peasant Blouses Perhaps the easy way to get in on the Wuthering Heights hype is with a breezy, ethereal peasant blouse.—
Eva Thomas,
InStyle,
4 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Marlowe, the son of a poor Canterbury cobbler, and Shakespeare, the son of a Stratford glover and alderman, were both unlikely artistic geniuses, provincials in a nation in which social class was rigidly fixed.—
Heller McAlpin,
Christian Science Monitor,
10 Sep. 2025
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Sanders is a Catholic priest and former Augustinian provincial in California and lives in the Augustinian community in North Park.—
Gary Sanders,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
14 May 2025
Noun
-
All those unsuspecting rubes with no idea what’s about to hit them.—
Joe Hagan,
Vanity Fair,
18 Mar. 2026
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And yet, to holier-than-thou doctors like young Ogilvie (Lucas Iverson), Howard is a cautionary tale: a glutton who can’t control himself, a rube who hasn’t heard of Ozempic, and a lazy slouch who can’t manage to drag himself to aqua aerobics.—
Marah Eakin,
Vulture,
6 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The film follows a clown, consumed by a desperate need for validation, who accepts a private booking, expecting a children’s party — only to discover his audience is a group of millennials and Gen Z adults who openly mock his performance.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
18 Mar. 2026
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Performances and stunts are delivered by international acrobats and clowns during music and light shows.—
Abby Hamblin,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
18 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Expect a rustic, generously sized tenderloin served on a classic bun, the kind of no-nonsense sandwich that feels right at home in a century-old mom-and-pop setting.—
Susan Stapleton,
Des Moines Register,
4 Mar. 2026
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It is centred around a striking building topped with turf, a nod to Iceland’s traditional architecture, with aqueduct-like arches and an angular timber roof inside—a little Hobbit-like, a little sci-fi rustic.—
Rick Jordan,
Travel + Leisure,
8 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hayseed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hayseed. Accessed 29 Mar. 2026.
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