backwater
Americannoun
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water held or forced back, as by a dam, flood, or tide.
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a place or state of stagnant backwardness.
This area of the country is a backwater that continues to resist progress.
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an isolated, peaceful place.
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a stroke executed by pushing a paddle forward, causing a canoe to move backward.
noun
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a body of stagnant water connected to a river
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water held or driven back, as by a dam, flood, or tide
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an isolated, backward, or intellectually stagnant place or condition
verb
Etymology
Origin of backwater
Explanation
Backwater is water that’s stagnant and out of the current. It’s a still pool created by a dam or a curve in the river. If a small town is described as backwater, then not much happens or changes there. The word backwater has been around since the 14th Century meaning “water behind a dam.” Now it refers to any flat water, not just the water behind a dam. Backwater can also describe a place or situation that seems stuck in a rut, unmoved by current events. Literally, backwater is water that’s away from the current; figuratively, backwater is a place that’s away from current events.
Vocabulary lists containing backwater
Red Kayak
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This Week In Culture: October 19–25, 2019
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Last Night at the Telegraph Club
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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.
Query why emoluments get the backhand, and this clause is sort of forgotten and maybe implicitly deemed as this backwater.
From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026
In 1877, he got to Los Angeles, then a 10,000-person backwater, and began working for the water company as a zanjero, or ditch-digger.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
That should alarm you even if you never fly beer to a dry village, because forfeiture in America is not a procedural backwater.
From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026
From a forgotten match in deepest Brazil to the arrival of global superstars on American shores, the U.S. has grown from soccer backwater into host of the biggest World Cup in history.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
Campbell could not disagree with Europeans’ condescending view of American science as a backwater rich in money and manpower but poor in theoretical understanding.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
