Thesaurus.com
Dictionary.com
Showing results for backwater. Search instead for Backwatering.
Definitions

backwater

[bak-waw-ter, -wot-er] / ˈbækˌwɔ tər, -ˌwɒt ər /


ADJECTIVE
back country
Synonyms




Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

As private credit ascended from a Wall Street backwater to a booming market, the industry found the nation’s insurance companies to be a ready source of capital.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026

Once viewed as an intellectual backwater, geroscience—the study of aging—is now at the frontier of biology, attracting funding and talent, inspiring new journals, and generating a flood of peer-reviewed research.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 27, 2025

Western adventurers have been turning up in Bali since the early 20th Century, when it was seen as an exotic backwater, home to Hindu temples and rice fields.

From BBC • Sep. 27, 2025

The exact coordinates of this backwater are a bit hazy, but Storyteller 2 helpfully pinpoints the locale as “a place where being from somewhere is who you are.”

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 22, 2025

Compared with Oxford it was a backwater and, unlike Oxford, had not benefited from any intimate contact with the Greshamites.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin




Vocabulary lists containing backwater


Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Look it up. Learn it forever.

Remember "backwater" for good with VocabTrainer. Expand your vocabulary effortlessly with personalized learning tools that adapt to your goals.

Take me to Vocabulary.com