backwater

American  

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

noun

1. water held or forced back, as by a dam, flood, or tide.

2. a place or state of stagnant backwardness.

   This area of the country is a backwater that continues to resist progress.

3. an isolated, peaceful place.

4. a stroke executed by pushing a paddle forward, causing a canoe to move backward.

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backwater British  

/ ˈbækˌwɔːtə /

noun

1. a body of stagnant water connected to a river

2. water held or driven back, as by a dam, flood, or tide

3. an isolated, backward, or intellectually stagnant place or condition

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verb

1. (intr) to reverse the direction of a boat, esp to push the oars of a rowing boat

Etymology

Origin of backwater

1350–1400; Middle English bakwateres; back ², water

Example Sentences

So why is Duran seemingly heading to the relative backwaters of football in Russia?

From BBC

In 2020, he became sector chief for the El Centro region, a sleepy California stretch considered a backwater because so few immigrants attempt to cross illegally there.

From The Wall Street Journal

Ms. Allen concedes their regionalism but argues that they were wiser for understanding that a “provincial backwater offers as full a panoply of human folly, nobility, tragedy, and absurdity as any great metropolis.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Resourcefully travelling to tennis backwaters in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Mozambique, Anderson signed into tournaments and built his ranking.

From BBC

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

Related Words

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• abrogate
• annul
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• invalidate
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• overturn
• quash
• renege
• repeal
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• set aside
• void