From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary EnglishRelated topics: Naturebackwaterback‧wa‧ter /ˈbækwɔːtə $ -wɒːtər, -wɑː-/ noun [countable]1FARa very quiet place not influenced by outside events or new ideas – used to show disapprovala rural backwater2DNa part of a river away from the main part, where the water does not moveExamples from the Corpusbackwater• Instead of being a backwater, they may in fact be an avant-garde.• Surely this was nothing but a backwater to civilization?• Overnight the bond market was transformed from a backwater into a casino.• The urbanstreet and the ruralvillage are both, in their different ways, educationalbackwaters.• It has been a forgottenbackwater.• Once an obscurebackwater of the publishing business, computer books have gone mainstream.• It is entirely possible that our backwater of a planet is literally the only one that has ever borne life.• a sleepybackwatertown