as in hick
an awkward or simple person especially from a small town or the country
though educated and sophisticated, the country singer always put on the facade of an amiable hayseed when in public
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Recent Examples of hayseed
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.
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Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 21 June 2024
Today, the variety shows’ wise-clown hayseeds (overalls, prosthetic teeth, silly hats, no shoes) are the ones who get all the good lines, whose material is distinctive in its political sensibility and cultural hobbyhorses.
—Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harper's Magazine, 30 Mar. 2024
Lilly’s bequest was big enough to impress the hayseeds at the feed store, but, as the magazine’s editor, Wiman was making only sixty thousand dollars a year.
—Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 4 Dec. 2023
Grey Henson and Ashley D. Kelley as the gleeful Storytellers, Kevin Cahoon as a hayseed philosopher and Caroline Innerbichler as the requisite ingenue all joyfully indulge the cheeky, harmlessly off-color vibe.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 20 Apr. 2023
Who is this gosh-darn hayseed?
—Kyle Smith, National Review, 30 Nov. 2020
Sort of like how Axl Rose is some hayseed with chops like Chopin.
—Mike Postalakis, SPIN, 3 Aug. 2022
To share the workload, and also to teach him how to do everything, Jeremy brings on an uneducated 21-year-old blond hayseed named Kaleb who sports a series of increasingly dire haircuts as the series goes on.
—Kyle Smith, National Review, 8 Aug. 2021
Callum Scott Howells is another standout as Colin, a Welsh hayseed who’s wonderstruck by city life.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 11 Mar. 2021
Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 21 June 2024
Today, the variety shows’ wise-clown hayseeds (overalls, prosthetic teeth, silly hats, no shoes) are the ones who get all the good lines, whose material is distinctive in its political sensibility and cultural hobbyhorses.
—Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harper's Magazine, 30 Mar. 2024
Lilly’s bequest was big enough to impress the hayseeds at the feed store, but, as the magazine’s editor, Wiman was making only sixty thousand dollars a year.
—Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 4 Dec. 2023
Grey Henson and Ashley D. Kelley as the gleeful Storytellers, Kevin Cahoon as a hayseed philosopher and Caroline Innerbichler as the requisite ingenue all joyfully indulge the cheeky, harmlessly off-color vibe.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 20 Apr. 2023
Who is this gosh-darn hayseed?
—Kyle Smith, National Review, 30 Nov. 2020
Sort of like how Axl Rose is some hayseed with chops like Chopin.
—Mike Postalakis, SPIN, 3 Aug. 2022
To share the workload, and also to teach him how to do everything, Jeremy brings on an uneducated 21-year-old blond hayseed named Kaleb who sports a series of increasingly dire haircuts as the series goes on.
—Kyle Smith, National Review, 8 Aug. 2021
Callum Scott Howells is another standout as Colin, a Welsh hayseed who’s wonderstruck by city life.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 11 Mar. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hayseed
Noun
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In first grade, when a teacher called him a hick, Ciotti threw an inkwell at her.D. T. Max, The New Yorker, 23 Sep. 2024
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In the special, taped at Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV, Kober brings audiences together with stories about dealing with hometown hicks, unforgiving fruit flies and California candy cartels.Matt Grobar, Deadline, 25 June 2024
Noun
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Florida yokels versus the elite Hollywood movie-star kind of group.Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 26 July 2024
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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
Noun
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Emily in Paris On Location: Hotel Plaza Athénée Paris Rediscover Paris as Chicago bumpkin Emily (played by Lily Collins) moves there for a job and takes you to places like Galeries Lafayette, Galerie-Musee Baccarat and Hotel Plaza Athénée Paris.Forbes Travel Guide, Forbes, 14 Sep. 2024
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At their worst, these histories, like the Soviet one, reduce Ukrainians to lazy, irresponsible, prejudiced country bumpkins with exaggerated penchants for vodka and violence.Alexander J. Motyl, Foreign Affairs, 4 Aug. 2016
Noun
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He was born in 1915 into a poor but educated peasant family in Hunan Province.Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 1 Jan. 2025
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Lucio has dedicated his life to re-invigorating ancestral culture and helping peasants overcome such modern challenges as industrial agriculture, pollution, and urban growth encroaching on their land.Jeanne Malle, airmail.news, 24 Aug. 2024
Noun
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This removed one of the last obstacles preventing poor provincials from governing the empire.Jeffrey E. Schulman / Made by History, TIME, 20 Dec. 2024
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While early imperial aristocrats saw provincials as subject nations with their own cultures, their working-class replacements considered Romans a single people and expected all to share the same values.Jeffrey E. Schulman / Made by History, TIME, 20 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Well, the rubes just elected Donald Trump president.Chris Roemer, Baltimore Sun, 8 Nov. 2024
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That’s easy: a rube, chump, or mark, whose naive optimism sets them up for betrayal.Jamil Zaki, TIME, 3 Sep. 2024
Noun
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Both movies feature a killer clown, but while Joaquin Phoenix’s grinning menace suffers from delusions of grandeur and an unspecified mental illness, the hideous ghoul from hell in Terrifier known as Art hacks away at his victims with no discernible motivation beyond the grisly acts themselves.Eric Kohn, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Jan. 2025
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The story features Mauro, a clown who dreams of a carnival where a parade of revelers are celebrating his life.Joanne Shurvell, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Off-mountain: Skiers who prefer to stay overnight in nearby Driggs, Idaho (a 20-minute drive from Grand Targhee) have a few rustic, albeit comfortable, possibilities.Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 30 Dec. 2024
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Venues tend to lean rustic in much of Hillsborough County.Yacob Reyes, Axios, 20 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near hayseed
Cite this Entry
“Hayseed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hayseed. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.
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