as in countryside
a rural region that forms the edge of the settled or developed part of a country
a distant backwater that didn't even have electricity at that time
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Recent Examples of backwater
Previously, wild rice was most commonly found in the still, shallow backwater areas of the river.
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Madeline Heim, Journal Sentinel, 4 Dec. 2024
Set in the future with humanity colonizing the Solar System, the resources across the various planets and asteroids render the Earth a financial backwater.
—Ollie Barder, Forbes, 2 Dec. 2024
The 20-year road Army traveled from football backwater to College Football Playoff contender was hardly a straight line.
—Pete Sampson, The Athletic, 22 Nov. 2024
Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Secretary of State Schmidt’s counterpart in Georgia similarly would prefer the job as elections chief had remained a bureaucratic backwater.
—Philip Elliott, TIME, 4 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for backwater 
Madeline Heim, Journal Sentinel, 4 Dec. 2024
Set in the future with humanity colonizing the Solar System, the resources across the various planets and asteroids render the Earth a financial backwater.
—Ollie Barder, Forbes, 2 Dec. 2024
The 20-year road Army traveled from football backwater to College Football Playoff contender was hardly a straight line.
—Pete Sampson, The Athletic, 22 Nov. 2024
Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Secretary of State Schmidt’s counterpart in Georgia similarly would prefer the job as elections chief had remained a bureaucratic backwater.
—Philip Elliott, TIME, 4 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for backwater
Recent Examples of Synonyms for backwater
Noun
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The British royals have celebrated Christmas at their private home in the Norfolk countryside for generations, and fans were heartened to see the tradition continue on the heels of a difficult year in which Charles and Kate were both diagnosed with cancer.Janine Henni, People.com, 9 Jan. 2025
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Pack this one for your next trip to the French countryside.Olivia Young, Travel + Leisure, 8 Jan. 2025
Noun
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The American frontier was a brutal place, but no more brutal than a zombie apocalypse.Erik Kain, Forbes, 11 Jan. 2025
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America at the frontier of energy security and energy technology, finally fighting to win the global competition and pulling along jobs and opportunity at the local level.Justine Calma, The Verge, 10 Jan. 2025
Noun
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In the Key of Ursa Minor Matthew Tierney Three fake plastic bushes per sill in the mall promenade.Max Ufberg, hazlitt.net, 10 Jan. 2025
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They will be buried together in their garden at home, among the kumquat tree and blueberry bushes, the white azaleas and roses, and the pollinator plants.Emily Cochrane, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2025
Noun
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And researchers continue to conduct challenge trials with the goal of developing better vaccines than the ones on the market and now want to expand trials to other countries.Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Jan. 2025
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Australia is a long way from Nashville, but that hasn’t stopped the Wiggles from saddling up with some country friends for their upcoming album Wiggle Up, Giddy Up!, out March 7.Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 10 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Brody’s characters teem with contradictions and inner hinterlands; patience gives way to explosive anger, smiles curve inward; his brow furrows articulately as any monologue.Wendell Steavenson, Vogue, 5 Jan. 2025
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Globalization creates wealth by enticing dynamic urban centers in richer countries to invest abroad rather than in hinterlands at home.Stephen Kotkin, Foreign Affairs, 14 June 2018
Noun
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True to its name, this extraordinary conflict saw armed soldiers pitted against emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae), large flightless birds native to the Australian outback.Scott Travers, Forbes, 26 Dec. 2024
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Watch on Hulu The Royal Hotel Ozark star Julia Garner reunites with director Kitty Green (The Assistant) for this taut psychological thriller in which BFFs Hanna (Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) decide to backpack their way through the Australian outback.Jennifer M. Wood, WIRED, 7 Nov. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Backwater.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/backwater. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.
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