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
Florida yokels versus the elite Hollywood movie-star kind of group.
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Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 26 July 2024
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
And, with perhaps the canniest remark on the design’s yokel-ness, someone else claimed to have seen the new logo wandering around Rockefeller Center asking for the Christmas tree.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 23 Mar. 2023
The team brings up a yokel from the minor leagues, Shane (Michael Oberholtzer), to relieve him, and Shane’s gruesome, heartfelt (and English-language) bigotry finally shakes the team to its roots.
—Helen Shaw, Vulture, 4 Apr. 2022
The first comic, Charles F. Browne, hit the lecture circuit in 1861 and adopted the pseudonymous persona of a country yokel named Artemus Ward.
—Harry Bruinius, The Christian Science Monitor, 29 Nov. 2021
Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 26 July 2024
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
And, with perhaps the canniest remark on the design’s yokel-ness, someone else claimed to have seen the new logo wandering around Rockefeller Center asking for the Christmas tree.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 23 Mar. 2023
The team brings up a yokel from the minor leagues, Shane (Michael Oberholtzer), to relieve him, and Shane’s gruesome, heartfelt (and English-language) bigotry finally shakes the team to its roots.
—Helen Shaw, Vulture, 4 Apr. 2022
The first comic, Charles F. Browne, hit the lecture circuit in 1861 and adopted the pseudonymous persona of a country yokel named Artemus Ward.
—Harry Bruinius, The Christian Science Monitor, 29 Nov. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for yokel
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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That means dressing up as a knight, king, queen, lord or lady, maybe even a peasant or fairy.Ashley Mahoney, Axios, 2 Oct. 2024
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An estimated 20,000 people swarmed the 1378 conclave in Rome to make their opinion known, including peasants who traveled from the countryside.Olivia B. Waxman, TIME, 25 Oct. 2024
Noun
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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
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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
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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The gilets jaunes protests, a largely peri-urban phenomenon, inverted the roles played by Parisians and provincials in 1871.Robert Zaretsky, Foreign Affairs, 30 Mar. 2021
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Until recently, attendees at such a talk would have seen themselves as mere provincials gathering to hear a report from the great halls of power in London and Washington.Jonathan Kay, Foreign Affairs, 15 Aug. 2017
Noun
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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
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Sometimes, the film’s examination of excess can simply be excessive, but The Wolf of Wall Street is hypnotizing — and a damning condemnation of us poor rubes.Will Leitch, Vulture, 8 Mar. 2024
Noun
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It Chapter Two is down to clown, again — in a bloody, silly, overwrought sequel Moving down the tension scale to thrillers, Netflix is offloading a few particularly popular titles.Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 2 Nov. 2024
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An 8-year-old girl fought back against an attacker wearing a clown mask who is accused of assaulting her in her bedroom earlier this month, police said.Louis Casiano, Fox News, 23 Oct. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near yokel
Cite this Entry
“Yokel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/yokel. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.
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