How to pronounce backwater
American English pronunciation
BAK-wah-ter
- IPA
- /ˈbækˌwɑtɚ/
- Syllables
- BAK · wah · ter (3 syllables, stress on the 1st)
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What backwater means
A quiet, out-of-the-way place where little changes
In a sentence: The town was a sleepy backwater until the new railroad came through.
Where it comes from: It first meant water held back by a dam, where the water barely moves. Later it came to mean a place where life barely moves.
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