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
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Recent Examples of yokel
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
Florida yokels versus the elite Hollywood movie-star kind of group.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 21 May 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
Their argument could really be rephrased thusly: If stunts got an Oscar, these ignorant yokels will maim and kill themselves breathlessly racing each other for a fancy gold statue.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 30 May 2024
Trujillo reimagines the sentimental yokels of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, as fervent, travel-ready fundamentalists.
—oregonlive, 5 Sep. 2023
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
Florida yokels versus the elite Hollywood movie-star kind of group.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 21 May 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
Their argument could really be rephrased thusly: If stunts got an Oscar, these ignorant yokels will maim and kill themselves breathlessly racing each other for a fancy gold statue.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 30 May 2024
Trujillo reimagines the sentimental yokels of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, as fervent, travel-ready fundamentalists.
—oregonlive, 5 Sep. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for yokel
Noun
-
Without so many of the fears, complexes, and prejudices hick shaped us in the ‘90s and the ‘00s.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
20 June 2025
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Sorrentino may also be exorcising some conflicting feelings about his birthplace, which is portrayed as a vulgar, crude place populated by crooks and hicks and photographed like its paradise.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
7 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
In it, Italian peasants Matteo and Natale discuss this same cosmic occurrence in the rustic Paduan dialect of the time.—
Andrew Paul,
Popular Science,
3 July 2025
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The origins of this traditional outfit are hazy, but white smocks had been worn since the Middle Ages by Basque peasants, and they were popularized by one of the working-class peñas, or social clubs, after 1929.—
Tony Perrottet,
Smithsonian Magazine,
30 June 2025
Noun
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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
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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
Noun
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Going to the Ron Burgundy–Ricky Bobby idiot well one time too many, Ferrell plays Cam Brady, a lazy, cynical longtime congressman running against a local bumpkin (Galifianakis).—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
4 Feb. 2025
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Carter, perhaps the most decent man to ever occupy the Oval Office, was long written off as a country bumpkin, one who perhaps unsurprisingly left office as a one-term anomaly.—
Philip Elliott,
TIME,
9 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
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
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Not long after his ordination, he was named the Jesuit provincial for Argentina, which put him in charge of the order’s activities throughout the country.—
Carlos De Loera,
Los Angeles Times,
21 Apr. 2025
Noun
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As for partisan rubes like Senator Van Hollen, Maryland can do better.—
Chris Roemer,
Baltimore Sun,
26 June 2025
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There was no quintessential American, so Twain imagined him: a wily rube, cynical toward the same refinements of Europe that inspired awe in him.—
Caity Weaver,
The Atlantic,
5 June 2025
Noun
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Also, this was not a good week for billionaires as a socialist Muslim won a long-shot victory in the NYC Democratic primary, partly on the promise to raise taxes among the highest income earners, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos starred in a clown show wedding in Venice.—
Paul Bedard,
The Washington Examiner,
28 June 2025
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Ayanna Pressley, another blow-in-drifter (from Chicago), pole vaulted from the City Council clown show to the U.S. House.—
Howie Carr,
Boston Herald,
25 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Yokel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/yokel. Accessed 12 Jul. 2025.
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