backwoods

[ bak-woodz ]

/ ˈbækˈwʊdz /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR backwoods ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

(often used with a singular verb) wooded or partially uncleared and unsettled districts.

any remote or isolated area.

adjective Also back·wood, back·woods·y.

of or relating to the backwoods.

unsophisticated; uncouth.

Nearby words

backwash, backwater, backwater valve, backwind, backwood, backwoods, backwoodsman, backword, backwrap, backyard, baclava

Origin of backwoods

An Americanism dating back to 1700–10; back¹ + wood¹(def 7)

SYNONYMS FOR backwoods

2 hinterland, provinces, wilds, woodland; sticks, boondocks, boonies, bush, backwater.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR backwoods ON THESAURUS.COM

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for backwoods

He spends his days shacked up in a 400-square-foot converted turkey coop in the backwoods of Maine.
Burt’s Bees Co-Founder Burt Shavitz on the Doc ‘Burt’s Buzz,’ and Losing Millions|Marlow Stern|September 11, 2013|DAILY BEAST
He suspected that the driver, who was identified as Cody Alan Legebokoff, was poaching in the backwoods.
A Teen Serial Killer in Canada?|Christine Pelisek|October 23, 2011|DAILY BEAST
While this free outdoor life develops strong and vigorous bodies, there is not much schooling in these backwoods settlements.
Stories of Later American History|Wilbur F. Gordy
He had recognized that it was more effective to appear the backwoods lawyer than the well-groomed attorney.
The Code of the Mountains|Charles Neville Buck

"Just exactly my way of looking at it, Major," answered Life, to whom the backwoods manner of talking was now a thing of the past.
An Undivided Union|Oliver Optic
One described it as an “ungainly craft looking precisely like a backwoods sawmill mounted on a scow and set on fire.”
Historic Inventions|Rupert S. Holland
Furthermore, the frontier journalists often noted the fine hospitality and congeniality of their backwoods hosts.
The Fair Play Settlers of the West Branch Valley, 1769-1784|George D. Wolf

British Dictionary definitions for backwoods

backwoods

/ (ˈbækwʊdz) /

pl n

mainly US and Canadian partially cleared, sparsely populated forests

any remote sparsely populated place

(modifier) of, from, or like the backwoods

(modifier) uncouth; rustic

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

backwoods

noun

adjective Also back·wood, back·woods·y.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of backwoods

Examples from the Web for backwoods

British Dictionary definitions for backwoods

backwoods

pl n