yokel
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of yokel
First recorded in 1805–15; origin uncertain
Explanation
Yokel is a disparaging name for someone from a small town or the countryside. To call someone a yokel is to imply that they are unsophisticated, uneducated, and probably dim-witted. Before the age of internet and television, if you grew up in a small town or on a farm, you probably wouldn’t have known about the latest fashions of Paris and Milan or the best restaurants in New York. Even now, if you live in a remote place, you may have a somewhat provincial understanding of the world. If so, when you visit the Big City an unkind “city slicker” may call you a yokel.
Vocabulary lists containing yokel
100 SAT words Beginning with W,X,Y, and Z
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"The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer, The Pardoner's Prologue
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The Odyssey
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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.
Reviewers varyingly called it "Oscar-Season B.S.," "woefully misguided," "Yokel Hokum," "laughably bad" and simply "awful."
From Salon • Dec. 5, 2020
Jeff Yokel, who spent 17 years in senior positions in DFAS's Cleveland office before retiring in 2009, says supervisors were required to approve every "plug" - thousands a month.
From Reuters • Nov. 18, 2013
Local Yokel is trying to solve this problem by signing up thousands of local publishers and aggregating and organizing their ad availabilities.
From Forbes • Nov. 26, 2012
I was recently introduced to a company called Local Yokel Media, a digital advertising start-up in the hyper-local market.
From Forbes • Nov. 26, 2012
Young Yokel, a Youthful Yorkshire Yeoman Yawned at York, For want of a few interesting and entertaining books from Cole's Book Arcade.
From Cole's Funny Picture Book No. 1 by Cole, E. W. (Edward William)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
