yokel

noun

ˈyō-kəl How to pronounce yokel (audio)
Definition of yokelnext
as in hick
an awkward or simple person especially from a small town or the country a lame comedy about the misadventures of yokels in the big city

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of yokel It was left to the feds in Boston to arrest Farwell, after Meatball’s local yokels adamantly refused to do anything other than try to broom the crime by one of their own. — Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 26 Apr. 2026 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 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 To the yokel who makes his donations in cash and is proud of himself for knowing what LEO stands for. — Ticked Off, The Orlando Sentinel, 15 June 2025 Much of the show's cast will be forever remembered as TV's favorite millionaire yokels, but The Beverly Hillbillies certainly didn't mark the end of their careers. — John Russell, People.com, 11 May 2025 Ben’s refusal to stand down for a middle-aged white man seeking to wrest power from him was radical, as was the film’s ending, in which the hero was shot by yokels failing to distinguish him from the zombies previously described as animals. — Richard Newby, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Oct. 2024 John Elway would sooner crowd surf with the yokels in Oakland’s Black Hole than tank a season. — Sean Keeler, The Denver Post, 1 Sep. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for yokel
  1. hick
  2. peasant
  3. hayseed
  4. bumpkin
  5. provincial
  6. rube
  7. clown
Noun
  • When Johnson was vice president and visiting Europe, there were reports filed by these British ambassadors in several countries that basically made fun of him as a hick.
    — Wendy Naugle, USA Today, 14 Apr. 2026
  • So a bunch of hicks from Topeka were left up to our own devices of going down to Robert Hall and finding something that might be kind of cool.
    — Devon Ivie, Vulture, 8 Apr. 2026
Definition of hick
Noun
  • His mother was a dark-skinned granddaughter of Saint Ann’s enslaved whose peasant kin farmed dasheen and yams.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2026
  • The Euphoria alum’s peasant blouse featured frilly puff sleeves, while her distressed dark-wash jeans came in a baggy cut.
    — Hannah Malach, InStyle, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of peasant
Noun
  • Duke Slater, pal of Jim Nabors’ hayseed Gomer Pyle on the ’60s sitcom of that name, died of natural causes today at UCLA Hospital in Los Angeles.
    — Greg Evans, Deadline, 12 June 2026
  • 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
Definition of hayseed
Noun
  • 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
Definition of bumpkin
Noun
  • 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
  • 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
Definition of provincial
Noun
  • Dominique is in the ensemble as is a blond rube named Hunter (Kristine Froseth) who shows up at Elle’s doorstep in mall-wear denim and then upgrades to desperate, cleavage-baring sequins.
    — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 23 July 2026
  • The good news is that this future of an AI takeover is looking increasingly unlikely, at least at the industry’s current pace, a fact which is now dawning on some of the biggest rubes and dupes in the corporate world.
    — Joe Wilkins, Futurism, 8 July 2026
Definition of rube
Noun
  • An Illinois teen has been charged with first-degree murder after allegedly committing a deadly stabbing attack while dressed in a clown outfit.
    — Nadine El-Bawab, ABC News, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Tyquan Thornton Tyquan Thornton is not only known for being a speedster, with one of the fastest combine times in history, but a class clown as well.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of clown

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Cite this Entry

“Yokel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/yokel. Accessed 15 Aug. 2026.

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