Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use backwater in a sentence

17 example sentences · noun, verb

Backwater means the water held back by a dam or other obstruction. Example: “Usually, however, this line, which once had a monopoly of all the traffic to Bournemouth, is a quiet backwater carrying a purely local traffic.”

Examples of backwater by meaning

nounA remote place: somewhere that remains unaffected by new events, progresses, ideas, etc; any field of endeavor that...

  • 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.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

More sentences with backwater

  • Before the emergence of the original SARS, the study of coronaviruses was a professional backwater.2020 June 2, Alan Burdick, “Monster or Machine? A Profile of the Coronavirus at 6 Months”, in The New York Times. From the entry coronavirologist
  • Maybe we'll get lucky; maybe he was printed for some minor infraction in some backwater town.1998, Eric Lustbader, Pale Saint, page 24. From the entry print
  • The strategic and naturally rich province of Liao-ning was turned into an under-supplied and severely mismanaged backwater.1978, Chi Hsin (research group), Teng Hsiao-ping: A Political Biography, Hong Kong: Cosmos Books, →OCLC, page 113. From the entry Liao-ning
  • To the cub reporter, eager for by-lines and self-expression, the whole copy desk looks like a backwater.1940, LIFE, volume 8, number 17, page 111. From the entry slot
  • As backwater from Lake Erie raises the level of Lake St.1910, US Congress, Report of the International Waterways Commission on the Regulation of Lake Erie, page 10. From the entry Lake Michigan-Huron
  • The railways have long cascaded stock from flagship routes to less prestigious services, and then eventually the backwaters of the network.2025 October 29, James Steward tells Joe Campbell, “Thriving on the stock exchange”, in RAIL, number 1047, page 44. From the entry cascade
  • It's what Miss Brunskill calls ‘our little backwater’.1982, Alan Bennett, “A Woman of No Importance”, in The Complete Talking Heads, Picador, published 2010, →ISBN, page 14. From the entry yonks
  • Unhusked nuts fetch higher prices than husked nuts in areas where there are retting facilities (e.g. backwater areas).1965, India Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Report on the marketing of coconuts and coconut products in India. From the entry unhusked
  • On toward dusk some little gypsy boys whittled gigs from river-birch limbs and went to a backwater and gigged frogs until they had a basketful.1997, Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain, London: Hodder and Stoughton, page 122. From the entry gig
  • 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, Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. From the entry spiral arm
  • The summer term had been busy and stuffy, and to a Rugby player there were few attractions in punts among lilied backwaters.1935, John Buchan, The House of the Four Winds, Prologue. From the entry lilied
  • Clair, so backwater from Lake St.1910, US Congress, Report of the International Waterways Commission on the Regulation of Lake Erie, page 10. From the entry Lake Michigan-Huron
  • Without them, we’d be a Trump-less backwater, an oceanfront Bradenton, a place where full-contact shopping, recreational medical treatment and Liza Minnelli tickets would be unattainable fantasies.2009 February 25, Frank Cerabino, “New Yorkers need to feel more at home”, in The Palm Beach Post, volume 101, number 18, West Palm Beach…. From the entry Trump-less
  • The notion that life in Harvard's upper echelons might be as back-stabby as life in the backwater small-town precincts of Florida never seems to have crossed the filmmakers' minds.1995 February 15, Peter Rainer, “Movie Review: Talented Cast Bogged Down in Mystery Thriller 'Cause'”, in Los Angeles Times. From the entry back-stabby

Meaning of backwater

  1. noun The water held back by a dam or other obstruction.
  2. noun A remote place: somewhere that remains unaffected by new events, progresses, ideas, etc; any field of endeavor that figuratively resembles such a place.
  3. noun A rowing stroke in which the oar is pushed forward to stop the boat; see back water.

Full definition of backwater

Questions about backwater in a sentence

How do you use backwater in a sentence?
Backwater is used as a noun and verb. For example: “Usually, however, this line, which once had a monopoly of all the traffic to Bournemouth, is a quiet backwater carrying a purely local traffic.”
What is a short sentence with backwater?
“an academic backwater”
What does backwater mean?
Backwater means the water held back by a dam or other obstruction.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: backwater (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use backwater in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/backwater. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.