backwater
/bˈækwˌɔtɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.84 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The water held back by a dam or other obstruction.
noun
A remote place: somewhere that remains unaffected by new events, progresses, ideas, etc; any field of endeavor that figuratively resembles such a place.
noun
A rowing stroke in which the oar is pushed forward to stop the boat; see back water
noun
Water used in the papermaking process. Recycled to reduce usage of fresh water, and usually containing residual amounts of chemicals and fibres.
name
A locality in the Armidale council area, north-eastern New South Wales, Australia.
Example Sentences
- "[…] The backwater separates the main line from Hinksey marshalling yards"
- "Near-synonyms: (place) jerkwater town, one-horse town, Podunk; see also Thesaurus:remote place"
- "an academic backwater"
- "Usually, however, this line, which once had a monopoly of all the traffic to Bournemouth, is a quiet backwater carrying a purely local traffic."
- "It's a volume for those who delight in exploring the backwaters of nineteenth-century opera."
- "Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun."
Etymology
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Places.
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Synonyms
jerkwater town
one-horse town
Podunk
Isolated town
bump in the road
jerkwater
jerk-water
wide spot in the road
Isolated place
arse end of nowhere
back of beyond
back forty