outback
US/ˈaʊtbæk/
outback noun: the most remote and desolate areas of Australia; the desert and areas too arid for growing crops.
Noun
outback (usually uncountable, plural outbacks)
- The most remote and desolate areas of Australia; the desert and areas too arid for growing crops.
- Communication like this is making a big change in the lives of Australia′s “outback” people.1951 June, W. J. Banks, Flying Doctors of the Outback, The Rotarian, page 23
- In the outback, many people live and work on sheep and cattle ranches.2000, Shirley W. Gray, Australia, page 31
Adjective
outback (comparative more outback, superlative most outback)
- Characteristic of the most remote and desolate areas of Australia; very remote from urban areas.
- […]the Civil Service Association is not particularly happy with the decision of the Government in regard to rents and the way they will be levied on its members in the more outback country areas.1964, Western Australian Parliament, Parliamentary Debates, page 3081
- In the Northern Territory, arguably the most outback of Australian states, police are still not armed.1996, David H. Bayley, Police for the Future, page 70
Adverb
outback (not comparable)
- To or towards the most remote and desolate areas of Australia.
- If we want this country to develop, we have to depend on men who are prepared to go outback and try to discover new shows.1953, Western Australian Parliament, Parliamentary Debates, page 241
- This has allowed Australians really to go outback in some reasonable comfort to see the attractions of this country.1984, Australian Senate, Parliamentary Debates: Senate Weekly Hansard, volume 3, page 1474
Verb
outback (third-person singular simple present outbacks, present participle outbacking, simple past and past participle outbacked)
- To travel or stay in the outback
outback meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
outback in Hindi
- आउटबैक
outback in Marathi
- आऊटबॅक
outback in Urdu
- آؤٹ بیک
outback in Bengali
- আউটব্যাক
More languagesFewer languages
- outback in Telugu
- అవుట్ బ్యాక్, ఔట్ బ్యాక్
- outback in Kannada
- ಔಟ್ ಬ್ಯಾಕ್
- outback in Punjabi
- ਆਊਟਬੈਕ
- outback in Gujarati
- આઉટબેક
- outback in Odia
- ଆଉଟବ୍ଯ଼ାକ୍
- outback in Nepali
- आउटब्याक
Examples of outback in a sentence
- The outback′s rich, red soil looked like blood because of all the iron in it, and the vast land was so still and barren that it seemed lifeless.2002, Erinn Banting., Australia: The People, page 20:
- Barely a bird and definitely none of my target species greeted the morning so I cut my losses and headed north through the staggeringly vast emptiness of the Outback.2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 254:
- Astronomers consider the outback area around Alice Springs — with its low pollution, low humidity and few light sources — to be among the best star-gazing locations on earth.2010, Lonely Planet, BBC Earth, The Traveller′s Guide to Planet Earth, page 129:
- From Bathurst the Mitchell Highway heads northwest through Dubbo and Bourke Nyngan then continues for almost 200 km to the most outback of towns Bourke.2002, Andrew Swaffer, Katrina O'Brien, Darroch Donald, Australia: Handbook, page 215:
Forms of outback
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | outbacks |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more outback |
| superlative | most outback |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | outbacks |
| present participle | outbacking |
| past participle | outbacked |
| past | outbacked |
Origin of outback
From out + back.
Words formed from outback
Questions about outback
- What does outback mean?
- Outback means the most remote and desolate areas of Australia; the desert and areas too arid for growing crops.
- What is outback in Hindi?
- Outback in Hindi is आउटबैक. See Outback meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use outback in a sentence?
- The outback′s rich, red soil looked like blood because of all the iron in it, and the vast land was so still and barren that it seemed lifeless.
- What part of speech is outback?
- Outback can be a noun, an adjective, an adverb or a verb.
- How do you pronounce outback?
- Outback is pronounced /ˈaʊtbæk/ (US).
- What is the plural of outback?
- The plural of outback is outbacks.
Words near outback in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: outback (page history and authors); outback (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); outback (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); outback (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); outback (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); outback (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); outback (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); outback (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); outback (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); outback (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); outback (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-outback.ogg.
Cite this entry: “outback.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/outback. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.