backwater

[ bak-waw-ter, -wot-er ]

noun

1. water held or forced back, as by a dam, flood, or tide.
2. a place or state of stagnant backwardness:

   This area of the country is a backwater that continues to resist progress.

3. an isolated, peaceful place.
4. a stroke executed by pushing a paddle forward, causing a canoe to move backward.

backwater

/ ˈbækˌwɔːtə /

noun

1. a body of stagnant water connected to a river
2. water held or driven back, as by a dam, flood, or tide
3. an isolated, backward, or intellectually stagnant place or condition

verb

1. intr to reverse the direction of a boat, esp to push the oars of a rowing boat

Word History and Origins

Origin of backwater¹

1350–1400; Middle English bakwateres; back ², water

Example Sentences

In the last decade, breakthroughs in our understanding of the aging process and promising early results from age reversal experiments in animals have dragged longevity research out of the academic backwaters and firmly into the mainstream.

From Singularity Hub 

Until the mid-20th century, these regions were the nation’s economic backwaters, “colonial” producers of raw materials that lagged far behind the rest of the nation in wealth and income.

From Washington Post

After years in the backwaters of venture capital, edtech had a booming 2020.

From TechCrunch

It’s fair to say that microfluidics became a scientific backwater.

From MIT Technology Review

The trip was billed as a celebration of the policy change that set in motion Shenzhen’s extraordinary transformation from rural backwater to global manufacturing colossus.

From Fortune

When you talk about midtown Manhattan as being a commercial backwater, I find it mind boggling.

From The Daily Beast

They both think that Los Angeles, long maligned as a culinary backwater, is the best food city in America.

From The Daily Beast

North Korea is an economic wreck and a technological backwater.

From The Daily Beast

The president is likely headed to a bureaucratic backwater as his famed office is renovated.

From The Daily Beast

In contrast, says Aftergood, “security has traditionally been a backwater that hires former military personnel and muscle men.”

From The Daily Beast

The rugged pioneer community had become, I suddenly saw, a rural backwater.

From Project Gutenberg

Once swung out of that backwater they had been swept away, powerless to know where they went, to guess what was their destination.

From Project Gutenberg

At last only fourteen of the English were left alive and they got hopelessly penned in a backwater.

From Project Gutenberg

Why, you both look as you did that night the backwater of the South Fork came into our cabin.

From Project Gutenberg

The blue heron rose heavily from the backwater, and winged his slow flight high above the trees.

From Project Gutenberg