as in hick
an awkward or simple person especially from a small town or the country
rural voters were tired of being treated as rubes by state officials, who showed interest in them only at election time
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Recent Examples of rube
The rubes in the trad lobby have been snookered—though their final betrayal is yet to come.
—
Ian Volner, Artforum, 28 May 2025
Walsh’s male fantasists—the nameless rubes of Ballyturk, the desperate suitors of Penelope, even the heartbroken father at the center of Grief Is the Thing With Feathers—get to strut and bluster and scream into the wind.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 23 Feb. 2025
Like master poker players sitting at a table with rubes, Wall Street’s quants and algorithmic traders like Citadel not only profit from Robinhood's customers' trades, but use the large amount of retail trading data from these purchases to anticipate market moves and profit.
—Javier Paz, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2025
Bradford sends her off to Alaska, instructing her on how to manipulate Frank, who everybody assumes is a rube.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
See All Example Sentences for rube
Ian Volner, Artforum, 28 May 2025
Walsh’s male fantasists—the nameless rubes of Ballyturk, the desperate suitors of Penelope, even the heartbroken father at the center of Grief Is the Thing With Feathers—get to strut and bluster and scream into the wind.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 23 Feb. 2025
Like master poker players sitting at a table with rubes, Wall Street’s quants and algorithmic traders like Citadel not only profit from Robinhood's customers' trades, but use the large amount of retail trading data from these purchases to anticipate market moves and profit.
—Javier Paz, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2025
Bradford sends her off to Alaska, instructing her on how to manipulate Frank, who everybody assumes is a rube.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
See All Example Sentences for rube
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rube
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
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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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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
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Clifton loved motorcycles and, as Hawkins said, was a country bumpkin who loved nature.—
Craig Shoup,
Nashville Tennessean,
21 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Austrian director Adrian Goiginger’s film Four Minus Three, the true story of a professional clown struck by tragedy, has won the Europa Cinemas Label as best European film in the Panorama section of the Berlinale.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
21 Feb. 2026
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There will be a clown, face painting and balloon art for the kids.—
Elizabeth Marie Himchak,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
17 Feb. 2026
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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Using his Hollywood makeup father’s prosthetics, Holliday transforms himself into hayseed-like Chad Powers.—
Baz Bamigboye,
Deadline,
30 Sep. 2025
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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
Noun
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Let the peasants squabble amongst themselves about the refs and how unfair life is.—
Pete Grathoff,
Kansas City Star,
13 Feb. 2026
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Pair them with boots, peasant tops, lightweight sweaters, and more.—
Mariana Best,
Better Homes & Gardens,
7 Feb. 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
Cite this Entry
“Rube.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rube. Accessed 28 Feb. 2026.
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