backwater
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.
In 2020, he became sector chief for the El Centro region, a sleepy California stretch considered a backwater because so few immigrants attempt to cross illegally there.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 29, 2026
Ms. Allen concedes their regionalism but argues that they were wiser for understanding that a “provincial backwater offers as full a panoply of human folly, nobility, tragedy, and absurdity as any great metropolis.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026
Her persona is part space alien, part naïf of some Baltic backwater.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 21, 2025
Olympics, but Southern California — which did not have a Russian Consulate — was considered a backwater in the Cold War spy game.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 23, 2025
William Levitt regarded the land he had acquired as frozen in time, belonging to a previous century, and marveled that such a backwater existed in the corridor between New York and Philadelphia.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
