country cousin

American  

noun

1. a person from the country or from a small town, to whom the sights and activities of a large city are novel and bewildering.

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country cousin British  

noun

1. an unsophisticated person from the country, esp one regarded as an object of amusement

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country cousin Idioms  

1. One whose lack of sophistication or rural ways may amuse or embarrass city dwellers. For example, The sightseeing guide geared his tour toward country cousins who had never been to a large city before. This term, which literally means “a cousin who lives in the country,” has been used in this figurative way since the second half of the 1700s, although the idea is much older (such persons were stock figures of fun in Restoration comedies of the late 1600s and early 1700s).

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Etymology

Origin of country cousin

First recorded in 1760–70

Example Sentences

An eight-minute case in point this year is 1938’s “Buzzy Boop at the Concert,” a wild and crazy Fleischer Studios cartoon featuring Betty Boop’s uninhibited country cousin Buzzy.

From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2022

Among the blindingly White milieu of social-climbing “wives of,” acid-tongued grand dames, bored heiresses, buzzing staff and one wide-eyed country cousin is Peggy Scott, an ambitious young Black woman who shines instead of shrinks.

From Washington Post • Jan. 25, 2022

Their story gives ballast to the High-Dynasty conflict between Cookie and Lucious, and that may help the show strike a better balance than its country cousin Nashville, which has lurched from earnest to outlandish.

From Time • Jan. 7, 2015

This is country cousin to the biophilia hypothesis, which suggests an innate fondness for nature and biodiversity, which both bring us benefits and, in their absence, costs.

From Slate • Aug. 12, 2012

“I don’t think our little country cousin is acquainted with any radicals, known or unknown.”

From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson

Related Words

• hick
• hillbilly