backwater

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

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.

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

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

verb

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of backwater¹

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

Example Sentences

Under their rule, the impoverished backwater was transformed into a flashy hub of casinos and red-light districts.

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A Jewish homeland in backwaters of the Ottoman empire seemed unattainable, and pressing domestic concerns like slavery and temperance took precedence.

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The family is among a handful of mafias that rose to power in the 2000s and transformed the impoverished backwater town of Laukkaing into a lucrative hub of casinos and red-light districts.

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“So we’ve got to find some formula that holds the thing together a year or two, after which — after a year, Mr. President, Vietnam will be a backwater,” Kissinger said.

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Few beyond North Carolina’s borders grasp the outsize role Newby, 70, has played in transforming the state’s top court from a relatively harmonious judicial backwater to a front-line partisan battleground since his election in 2004.

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