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.
And the effects run both ways: embankments and barrages built for India's protection have raised water levels and caused backwater flooding in Nepal's Terai, which is Nepal's long-standing concern,' says Sanyal.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
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
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.
