boonies
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of boonies
First recorded in 1950–55; boon(docks), -ie
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.
Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson evoke the small-bore unraveling of new parenthood in the boonies, with Lawrence in particular throwing her whole body into a creeping alienation from one’s spouse and oneself.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 18, 2025
We’re in the boonies of 18th-century Austria, a land of tall, lonely forests and craggy hillsides.
From New York Times • Jun. 20, 2024
Nam: It was a massive compound way out in the boonies!
From Salon • Mar. 15, 2021
In contrast, New York and other older Eastern cities were already overflowing, and courses had to be built in the boonies.
From Golf Digest • Apr. 17, 2020
This’ll sound crazy, I know—a kid like me from the boonies on the Eastern Shore—but what I want to do someday is design buildings—maybe even parks and stuff.
From "Red Kayak" by Priscilla Cummings
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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.