Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

backwoodsman

American  
[bak-woodz-muhn] / ˈbækˈwʊdz mən /

noun

  • backwoodsmen
    plural
  1. a person living in or coming from the backwoods, or a remote or unsettled area.

  2. a person of uncouth manners, rustic behavior or speech, etc.

  3. British. a peer who rarely attends the House of Lords.


backwoodsman British  
/ ˈbækˌwʊdzmən /

noun

  1. a person from the backwoods

  2. informal an uncouth or rustic person

  3. informal a peer who rarely attends the House of Lords

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of backwoodsman

An Americanism dating back to 1700–10; backwoods + -man


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.

See Examples For:

He managed to keep working in small projects in theater, films and TV, returning to the mainstream in 1983 with “Cross Creek,” in which he played table-smashing backwoodsman Marsh Turner.

From Fox News ● Jul. 10, 2019

“I felt every bit a backwoodsman, and it threw me off the mark.”

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 5, 2017

The Descent works so well because it adds a creepy Darwinian overtone to the well-worn horror staple of the inbred, bestial backwoodsman.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 25, 2016

Among them were “The Hunt,” in which a recently deceased backwoodsman is saved by his beloved hunting dog from accidentally wandering into Hell.

From Time ● Mar. 25, 2016

The simplest backwoodsman knows by experience that all cultivation is impossible in the neighborhood of bogs and marshes.

From Man and Nature or, Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action by George P. Marsh

He was more than capable of inspiring his fellow rough-hewn backwoodsmen to join his command and leading them into battle, often to their detriment, but great leadership is only one aspect of command.

From Slate ● Mar. 5, 2022

Taxidermy, long the domain of backwoodsmen and museum employees, is enjoying a vogue lately among young urbanites, due in part to a back-to-the-land revival that also favors beards, flannel and butchery workshops.

From New York Times ● Dec. 8, 2010

The Cotton Blossom's theatre-saloon, where the troupe rehearses deshabillee of a morning, will seat 600 river-folk, farmers, backwoodsmen.

From Time Magazine Archive

For more than 50 years, the flinty, down-East salesman peddled wilderness wares of his own making to grizzled backwoodsmen as well as fugitives from Abercrombie & Fitch.

From Time Magazine Archive

Living on the frontier, mingling with the rude, hard-working, honest, and virtuous backwoodsmen, he became expert in the use of every implement of agriculture and woodcraft, and as an ax-man he had no superior.

From Sketch of the life of Abraham Lincoln by Isacc Newton Arnold

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word


Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training