as in hick
an awkward or simple person especially from a small town or the country
the bumpkin was overwhelmed by the city's confusing subway system
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Recent Examples of bumpkin
Carter, perhaps the most decent man to ever occupy the Oval Office, was long written off as a country bumpkin, one who perhaps unsurprisingly left office as a one-term anomaly.
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Philip Elliott, TIME, 9 Jan. 2025
Emily in Paris On Location: Hotel Plaza Athénée Paris
Rediscover Paris as Chicago bumpkin Emily (played by Lily Collins) moves there for a job and takes you to places like Galeries Lafayette, Galerie-Musee Baccarat and Hotel Plaza Athénée Paris.
—Forbes Travel Guide, Forbes, 14 Sep. 2024
At their worst, these histories, like the Soviet one, reduce Ukrainians to lazy, irresponsible, prejudiced country bumpkins with exaggerated penchants for vodka and violence.
—Alexander J. Motyl, Foreign Affairs, 4 Aug. 2016
There are no bumpkins in Hamaguchi’s movie, either—no one who can be reduced to a small-town, salt-of-the-earth cliché.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 3 May 2024
Working in a glass tower and living in the big city may still be the dream for a bumpkin like Jianlin, but China’s young urbans are starting to head in the opposite direction and seeking more comfortable lifestyles in the countryside.
—Mohamed El Aassar, Fortune, 25 Jan. 2024
But there’s a bitter and violent tone of hatred here that’s more reminiscent of 70s thrillers like Straw Dogs or Deliverance, where backwards country bumpkins take out their grievances on innocent newcomers.
—Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 July 2023
These skirts are chic, fresh and modern, rather than stuffy or country bumpkin.
—Laura Fenton, Washington Post, 13 June 2023
Memphis, a guitar-strumming gentle giant with a country bumpkin way — touchingly incarnated by Sheldon D. Brown — is the main target of Waters’ irrational ire.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 26 May 2023
Philip Elliott, TIME, 9 Jan. 2025
Emily in Paris On Location: Hotel Plaza Athénée Paris
Rediscover Paris as Chicago bumpkin Emily (played by Lily Collins) moves there for a job and takes you to places like Galeries Lafayette, Galerie-Musee Baccarat and Hotel Plaza Athénée Paris.
—Forbes Travel Guide, Forbes, 14 Sep. 2024
At their worst, these histories, like the Soviet one, reduce Ukrainians to lazy, irresponsible, prejudiced country bumpkins with exaggerated penchants for vodka and violence.
—Alexander J. Motyl, Foreign Affairs, 4 Aug. 2016
There are no bumpkins in Hamaguchi’s movie, either—no one who can be reduced to a small-town, salt-of-the-earth cliché.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 3 May 2024
Working in a glass tower and living in the big city may still be the dream for a bumpkin like Jianlin, but China’s young urbans are starting to head in the opposite direction and seeking more comfortable lifestyles in the countryside.
—Mohamed El Aassar, Fortune, 25 Jan. 2024
But there’s a bitter and violent tone of hatred here that’s more reminiscent of 70s thrillers like Straw Dogs or Deliverance, where backwards country bumpkins take out their grievances on innocent newcomers.
—Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 July 2023
These skirts are chic, fresh and modern, rather than stuffy or country bumpkin.
—Laura Fenton, Washington Post, 13 June 2023
Memphis, a guitar-strumming gentle giant with a country bumpkin way — touchingly incarnated by Sheldon D. Brown — is the main target of Waters’ irrational ire.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 26 May 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bumpkin
Noun
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In first grade, when a teacher called him a hick, Ciotti threw an inkwell at her.D. T. Max, The New Yorker, 23 Sep. 2024
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In the special, taped at Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV, Kober brings audiences together with stories about dealing with hometown hicks, unforgiving fruit flies and California candy cartels.Matt Grobar, Deadline, 25 June 2024
Noun
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He was born in 1915 into a poor but educated peasant family in Hunan Province.Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 1 Jan. 2025
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Lucio has dedicated his life to re-invigorating ancestral culture and helping peasants overcome such modern challenges as industrial agriculture, pollution, and urban growth encroaching on their land.Jeanne Malle, airmail.news, 24 Aug. 2024
Noun
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Well, the rubes just elected Donald Trump president.Chris Roemer, Baltimore Sun, 8 Nov. 2024
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That’s easy: a rube, chump, or mark, whose naive optimism sets them up for betrayal.Jamil Zaki, TIME, 3 Sep. 2024
Noun
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Florida yokels versus the elite Hollywood movie-star kind of group.Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 26 July 2024
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Ben’s refusal to stand down for a middle-aged white man seeking to wrest power from him was radical, as was the film’s ending, in which the hero was shot by yokels failing to distinguish him from the zombies previously described as animals.Richard Newby, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Oct. 2024
Noun
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Mantle was the voluble hayseed from Oklahoma who could hit anything but was corrupted by the big city, and wound up undone by alcohol and knee injuries.Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 21 June 2024
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Today, the variety shows’ wise-clown hayseeds (overalls, prosthetic teeth, silly hats, no shoes) are the ones who get all the good lines, whose material is distinctive in its political sensibility and cultural hobbyhorses.Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harper's Magazine, 30 Mar. 2024
Noun
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This removed one of the last obstacles preventing poor provincials from governing the empire.Jeffrey E. Schulman / Made by History, TIME, 20 Dec. 2024
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While early imperial aristocrats saw provincials as subject nations with their own cultures, their working-class replacements considered Romans a single people and expected all to share the same values.Jeffrey E. Schulman / Made by History, TIME, 20 Dec. 2024
Noun
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The story features Mauro, a clown who dreams of a carnival where a parade of revelers are celebrating his life.Joanne Shurvell, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2025
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Both movies feature a killer clown, but while Joaquin Phoenix’s grinning menace suffers from delusions of grandeur and an unspecified mental illness, the hideous ghoul from hell in Terrifier known as Art hacks away at his victims with no discernible motivation beyond the grisly acts themselves.Eric Kohn, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Off-mountain: Skiers who prefer to stay overnight in nearby Driggs, Idaho (a 20-minute drive from Grand Targhee) have a few rustic, albeit comfortable, possibilities.Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 30 Dec. 2024
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Venues tend to lean rustic in much of Hillsborough County.Yacob Reyes, Axios, 20 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near bumpkin
Cite this Entry
“Bumpkin.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bumpkin. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.
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