BACKWATER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does backwater mean? 

• BACKWATER (noun)
  The noun BACKWATER has 2 senses:

1. a body of water that was created by a flood or tide or by being held or forced back by a dam

2. a place or condition in which no development or progress is occurring

  Familiarity information: BACKWATER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BACKWATER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A body of water that was created by a flood or tide or by being held or forced back by a dam

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Context example:

the bayous and backwaters are breeding grounds for mosquitos

Hypernyms ("backwater" is a kind of...):

body of water; water (the part of the earth's surface covered with water (such as a river or lake or ocean))

Sense 2

Meaning:

A place or condition in which no development or progress is occurring

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Context example:

the country is an economic backwater

Hypernyms ("backwater" is a kind of...):

region (a large indefinite location on the surface of the Earth)

 Context examples 

The newly discovered supersized black hole resides in the center of a massive elliptical galaxy, NGC 1600, located in a cosmic backwater, a small grouping of 20 or so galaxies.

(Behemoth Black Hole Found in an Unlikely Place, NASA)

In half an hour we had reached Pitt Street, a quiet little backwater just beside one of the briskest currents of London life.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

That big one is for Pedro Lopez, the king of them all, that I killed in a backwater of the Putomayo River.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)