adjective
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of or characteristic of the countryside or country life; rustic
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of or relating to shepherds; pastoral
noun
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(sometimes plural) a pastoral poem, often in the form of a dialogue
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a rustic; farmer or shepherd
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of bucolic
1525–35; < Latin būcolicus < Greek boukolikós rustic, equivalent to boukól ( os ) herdsman ( bou-, stem of boûs ox + -kolos keeper + -ikos -ic
Explanation
As an adjective, bucolic refers to an ideal country life that many yearn for. If your parents wanted to raise you in a bucolic environment, you may find yourself living 45 minutes away from the nearest movie theater or person your age. Not ideal. You wouldn’t know it to look at it, but bucolic is a distant relation of cow, and all bucolic’s meanings can be connected to the bovine creature. Bucolic ultimately comes from the Greek boukolos, cowherd or herdsman. A bucolic could be a short poem about pastoral (cow) life or a country person, who is stereotyped as a cowherd. Used as an adjective, bucolic can refer to an idealized rural life (think life with cows) or to herdsmen (more cows). And that’s no bull.
Vocabulary lists containing bucolic
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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Words to Describe a Place
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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.
His harsh rebuke of her in an ironically bucolic setting is the movie’s most memorable scene.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 4, 2026
I don’t want its bucolic spirit to change with the footfall of tourists.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026
The sun is starting to go down outside — this is the time of day, he says, when Chaplin’s bucolic grounds remind him of Montecito’s San Ysidro Ranch — and he’s getting slightly philosophical.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 2, 2026
Against bucolic and urban images of industry and humanity, Reagan begins in his unmistakable voice, “When someone says ‘Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,’ it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing.”
From Salon • Oct. 30, 2025
She walked in the direction of the song, following it till she found a small, bucolic waterfall that fed into a turquoise pond.
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
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.
