hillbilly
Americannoun
adjective
noun
-
derogatory an unsophisticated person, esp from the mountainous areas in the southeastern US
-
another name for country and western
Sensitive Note
Hillbilly is often used with disparaging intent and perceived as insulting, implying that a person who lives far away from a town or city lacks culture or education. However, this term is also used in a humorous way without intent to offend, and it is sometimes a positive term of self-reference.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hillbilly
Compare meaning
How does hillbilly compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A hillbilly is a particularly unworldly country person. If you grew up in a remote rural area, visiting a big city for the first time can make you feel a bit like a hillbilly. It's not nice to call someone a hillbilly — it's an insult, implying stupidity or at least a profound lack of sophistication. You might picture a hillbilly wearing overalls and chewing tobacco, uneducated and inexperienced. Today the word includes anyone who seems to fit this stereotype, but originally it meant specifically "southern Appalachian U.S. resident," from the hilly terrain in that area and the first name Billy.
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:
Stewart didn’t go for polyester suits or arenas, preferring the rough and rowdy “skull orchards” around Fort Pierce where he could alternate between hillbilly rock and progressive bluegrass.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
He’s a hillbilly, an elegist, and a Yale Law School graduate.
From Slate ● Mar. 5, 2025
Mr Walz becomes the second running mate with claimed ancestry from the island in this year's presidential election, after Donald Trump announced 'Scots-Irish hillbilly at heart' JD Vance as his pick for vice-president.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2024
"Mountain Justice" pits a hillbilly father against his daughter who, Nugent wrote, “picked up her new-fangled notions at a nurses' training school.”
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2024
My sister Lillian was in high school and singing with a hillbilly band called The Sierra Stars—jeans, cowboy hats, two guitars, and a tub bass.
From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston
"It's cool there's a spot for hillbillies like me," says Top.
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2026
The discourse around "hillbillies" shifts according to the country's mood.
From Salon ● Dec. 27, 2020
“The people up here, even the hillbillies like me, we would go down with our guns and stand outside the front gate of Islamberg to protect them,” Lonsberry said.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 28, 2019
Li’l Abner Musical Theatre West offers a staged reading of this musical adaptation of the Al Capp comics about the lives of hillbillies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2016
With just 10 days left, few self-described hillbillies in southwest Virginia are undecided.
From New York Times ● Oct. 27, 2012
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.
