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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.

When I visited Xingguo, it remained an economic backwater.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026

By 2001 the paper profits pushed Ireland’s gross domestic product per capita ahead of Britain’s, fed a housing boom, and turned Dublin from a dirty backwater into a glossy tourist hub.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 7, 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

Olympics, but Southern California — which did not have a Russian Consulate — was considered a backwater in the Cold War spy game.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 23, 2025

But that area, too, remained a cultural backwater occupied by hunter-gatherers for most of its history.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond




Vocabulary lists containing backwater