as in pastoral
of, relating to, associated with, or typical of open areas with few buildings or people
grew up in a rural community where more than half the people were farmers a painter noted for his rural landscapes
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of rural
On an August night in 1985, five members of one family were shot dead at Whitehouse Farm, a country manor in the rural county of Essex, in southeastern England.
—
The New Yorker, New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2025
He’d been born into poverty in rural Mississippi.
—Literary Hub, 21 Oct. 2025
While there has been an increase in new digital sites, the vast majority have been in urban or suburban areas, deepening the news crisis in rural areas.
—David Bauder, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2025
Independent horror filmmaker Larry Fessenden began his directing career with No Telling, a low-budget, rural riff on Frankenstein featuring heavy relationship drama and animal experimentation.
—Rory Doherty, Vulture, 20 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rural
The New Yorker, New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2025
He’d been born into poverty in rural Mississippi.
—Literary Hub, 21 Oct. 2025
While there has been an increase in new digital sites, the vast majority have been in urban or suburban areas, deepening the news crisis in rural areas.
—David Bauder, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2025
Independent horror filmmaker Larry Fessenden began his directing career with No Telling, a low-budget, rural riff on Frankenstein featuring heavy relationship drama and animal experimentation.
—Rory Doherty, Vulture, 20 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rural
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rural
Adjective
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Could Trump’s pastoral critics ultimately face the same frivolous yet burdensome investigations that now plague his political critics?—
Rev. Nathan Empsall,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 Oct. 2025
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Same-sex desire also appears throughout Virgil’s pastoral poems, the Eclogues.—
The New Yorker,
New Yorker,
20 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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But when the parents began the planning process, taking a DIY approach to a multi-country trip for four adults and three teenagers (two high-school grads and an 8th-grade graduate) proved daunting.—
Beth Luberecki,
USA Today,
21 Oct. 2025
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The multi-country co-production is led by Chile’s Catalina Vergara of Globo Rojo Films.—
Anna Marie de la Fuente,
Variety,
24 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The wedding itself embraced the natural beauty of the vineyard setting with its rustic elegance.—
Sean Mandell,
PEOPLE,
19 Oct. 2025
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The gorgeous black-and-white cinematography, rustic environments, and disorienting camera tricks deliver elegance and unease in equal measure.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
18 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The sound of water tumbling over an 18th-century mill wheel only adds to the bucolic allure of a 2,000-plus-acre horse farm in New York‘s scenic Hudson Valley that just hit the market for an eye-popping $90 million.—
Abby Montanez,
Robb Report,
20 Oct. 2025
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In addition to its prime, bucolic location in the Green Mountains, Putney is perhaps best known for its schools, including Landmark College and the boarding schools, Putney School and Greenwood School.—
Megan Margulies,
Travel + Leisure,
11 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Rural.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rural. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.
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