backwater

CEFRC2

/bˈæˌkwɔtər/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
noun
A quiet place that has little activity or progress.
02
noun
Extra detail
A remote place: somewhere that remains unaffected by new events, progresses, ideas, etc; any field of endeavor that figuratively resembles such a place.

Examples

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Deep Dive

Extra meanings

A rowing stroke in which the oar is pushed forward to stop the boat; see back water
The water held back by a dam or other obstruction.
Water used in the papermaking process. Recycled to reduce usage of fresh water, and usually containing residual amounts of chemicals and fibres.

In context

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.

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Question 1 · Quick check

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

The word in print, with each source given in full.

[…] The backwater separates the main line from Hinksey marshalling yards
1956 May, “Beside a Thames Backwater”, in Railway Magazine, page unnumbered, frontispiece
Usually, however, this line, which once had a monopoly of all the traffic to Bournemouth, is a quiet backwater carrying a purely local traffic.
1953 August, David R. Webb, “By Rail to Bournemouth”, in Railway Magazine, page 556
The back-water (overflow) can be used for "thinning down" the chests when emptying. If "Wastive" does this, his mind will be at ease regarding waste of pulp, and his machine-men will be happy and do their work much better than by trying to use all the back-water on the paper machine.
1908, An Old Machineman, “Re Back-water Query.”, in The World's Paper Trade Review, page 14
It's a volume for those who delight in exploring the backwaters of nineteenth-century opera.
1978, National Opera Association –, The Opera Journal, page 29
Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.
1979 October 12, Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, London: Pan Books, →ISBN

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From back + water.