backwater
Americannoun
-
water held or forced back, as by a dam, flood, or tide.
-
a place or state of stagnant backwardness.
This area of the country is a backwater that continues to resist progress.
-
an isolated, peaceful place.
-
a stroke executed by pushing a paddle forward, causing a canoe to move backward.
noun
-
a body of stagnant water connected to a river
-
water held or driven back, as by a dam, flood, or tide
-
an isolated, backward, or intellectually stagnant place or condition
verb
Etymology
Origin of backwater
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.
Since seizing power as the kingdom’s de facto ruler in 2017, Mohammed has singularly pursued the goal of transforming the kingdom from a cultural and geopolitical backwater into a force on the world stage.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025
Once viewed as an intellectual backwater, geroscience—the study of aging—is now at the frontier of biology, attracting funding and talent, inspiring new journals, and generating a flood of peer-reviewed research.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 27, 2025
Her persona is part space alien, part naïf of some Baltic backwater.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 21, 2025
It had about three houses, and right in the middle there was a sign over a building saying “Casino,” and it had a slot machine in, so it was a real American backwater.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 9, 2025
Instead, the ground dissolved at his feet and he fell into a familiar backwater - the Hypnos cabin at Camp Half-Blood.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
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.
