Backwater Meaning
/bˈæˌkwɔtər/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe water held back by a dam or other obstruction.
nounA remote place: somewhere that remains unaffected by new events, progresses, ideas, etc; any field of endeavor that figuratively resembles such a place.
Sentence Examples
Tom lives in a backwater area.
Tom and Mary live in a backwater part of the country.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The small village remained a cultural ____ with no internet access for decades.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The quiet village was a bit of a ____, far from the main city's life.
Word Origin & History
From back + water.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[…] 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:
"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:
"What was once the industrial heart of Uruguay is now a quiet riverside backwater where nothing much happens—the shops don't bother to open until midday and not at all if it's raining."
— 2003 September 21, Tom Hall, “Sunset in a one-pie town”, in The Observer, →ISSN:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The small village remained a cultural ____ with no internet access for decades.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The quiet village was a bit of a ____, far from the main city's life.