backwater

[ bak-waw-ter, -wot-er ]
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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.

  1. an isolated, peaceful place.

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

Origin of backwater

1
1350–1400; Middle English bakwateres;see back2, water

Words Nearby backwater

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use backwater in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for backwater

backwater

/ (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

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

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with backwater

backwater

Reverse a position, take back a statement, or otherwise retreat, as in We're sure that the senator will back water on raising taxes. This term literally refers to a vessel that moves backward in the water because its oars, paddles, or paddlewheel are reversed. It soon was transferred to other kinds of reversal. [Second half of 1700s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.