Backwater
noun
A quiet and isolated place where not much happens.
After living in a busy city for a year, he decided to retreat to his childhood town, a backwater where he could live in peace.
Often appears as...
- quiet backwater
- rural backwater
noun
A part of a river not reached by the current, where the water is stagnant.
On their boat ride, they stayed close to the safe and calm backwater.
Often appears as...
- river backwater
- deep backwater
noun
A quiet and isolated place where not much happens.
After living in a busy city for a year, he decided to retreat to his childhood town, a backwater where he could live in peace.
Often appears as...
- quiet backwater
- rural backwater
noun
A part of a river not reached by the current, where the water is stagnant.
On their boat ride, they stayed close to the safe and calm backwater.
Often appears as...
- river backwater
- deep backwater
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Cultural Imagery
Backwater often invokes images of a simpler, quieter lifestyle, contrasting with the hustle of urban areas.
He yearned for a backwater existence away from the city lights.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Connotation
Sometimes implies a place is backward or out of step with progress.
His innovative ideas were wasted in the technological backwater.
Pro Tip 3/3Synonym Awareness
Backwater can be synonymous with 'sleepy town' but carries a sense of isolation too.
She escaped to a sleepy backwater for her summer break.
Compare with
backwoodscountrysidehinterlandoutbackoutskirtsperi
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Video examples
Safari Live - Day 190 PIPE...
goes the shame we can't see him drinking is being just bad that little round of mud what are we getting nasty protected there from the wind a little bit of a backwater or Eddy and
Video examples
Ernesto Sirolli: Want to...
The idea of finding a different technology had absolutely taken over, and there were tiny, tiny little factories in backwaters. Dearborn, Michigan. Henry Ford.
Video examples
Safari Live - Day 190 PIPE...
goes the shame we can't see him drinking is being just bad that little round of mud what are we getting nasty protected there from the wind a little bit of a backwater or Eddy and
Video examples
Ernesto Sirolli: Want to...
The idea of finding a different technology had absolutely taken over, and there were tiny, tiny little factories in backwaters. Dearborn, Michigan. Henry Ford.
Example 1 of 2
Quote examples
Stacy Schiff
American Author
Here you have an incredibly ambitious, accomplished woman who comes up against some of the same problems that women in power come up against today. Cleopatra plays an oddly pivotal role in world history as well; in her lifetime, Alexandria is the center of the universe, Rome is still a backwater.
Quote examples
Adrienne Mayor
American Historian
In April 2001, I visited Big Bone Lick State Park in Kentucky. The heaps of mastodon and other large skeletons that used to loom out of the brackish backwaters along the Ohio River here are long gone, though the occasional big bone sometimes comes to light.
Quote examples
Ryan Bethencourt
American Scientist
In the past, biology has been a backwater type of activity - a bunch of nerds in a lab. Now the sheer potential of biology to re-program our physical world is a new reality for everyone.
Quote examples
David Andrew Sinclair
Australian Scientist
When I started in the field, aging research was the backwater of biology. The idea that you could find a molecule that would prevent many diseases at once was considered impossible.
Quote examples
Sabine Baring-Gould
English Clergyman
The stream of civilisation flows on like a river: it is rapid in mid- current, slow at the sides, and has its backwaters. At best, civilisation advances by spirals.
Quote examples
Pinarayi Vijayan
Indian Politician
Kerala is called 'God's own country.' We need to make sure it is really so, for which we should ensure the entire state, including rivers and backwaters, are clean.
Quote examples
Christopher Fowler
English Writer
As a child marooned in a post-war South London backwater with no ready cash and a bafflingly dysfunctional family, I had to glean my amusement wherever I could.
Quote examples
Kalki Koechlin
French Actress
I like Kerala a lot. The beautiful beaches there, the backwaters - I have good memories of the place.
Quote examples
Daniel Lyons
American Writer
Even in the business department of a magazine, tech was a backwater.
Quote examples
Richard Engel
American Journalist
Afghanistan was always a backwater in the Islamic world.
Quote examples
Stacy Schiff
American Author
Here you have an incredibly ambitious, accomplished woman who comes up against some of the same problems that women in power come up against today. Cleopatra plays an oddly pivotal role in world history as well; in her lifetime, Alexandria is the center of the universe, Rome is still a backwater.
Quote examples
Adrienne Mayor
American Historian
In April 2001, I visited Big Bone Lick State Park in Kentucky. The heaps of mastodon and other large skeletons that used to loom out of the brackish backwaters along the Ohio River here are long gone, though the occasional big bone sometimes comes to light.
Quote examples
Ryan Bethencourt
American Scientist
In the past, biology has been a backwater type of activity - a bunch of nerds in a lab. Now the sheer potential of biology to re-program our physical world is a new reality for everyone.
Quote examples
David Andrew Sinclair
Australian Scientist
When I started in the field, aging research was the backwater of biology. The idea that you could find a molecule that would prevent many diseases at once was considered impossible.
Quote examples
Sabine Baring-Gould
English Clergyman
The stream of civilisation flows on like a river: it is rapid in mid- current, slow at the sides, and has its backwaters. At best, civilisation advances by spirals.
Quote examples
Pinarayi Vijayan
Indian Politician
Kerala is called 'God's own country.' We need to make sure it is really so, for which we should ensure the entire state, including rivers and backwaters, are clean.
Quote examples
Christopher Fowler
English Writer
As a child marooned in a post-war South London backwater with no ready cash and a bafflingly dysfunctional family, I had to glean my amusement wherever I could.
Quote examples
Kalki Koechlin
French Actress
I like Kerala a lot. The beautiful beaches there, the backwaters - I have good memories of the place.
Quote examples
Daniel Lyons
American Writer
Even in the business department of a magazine, tech was a backwater.
Quote examples
Richard Engel
American Journalist
Afghanistan was always a backwater in the Islamic world.
Example 1 of 10
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