as in peasant
an awkward or simple person especially from a small town or the country
a rustic who was awed by the prices that city dwellers had to pay
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
variants
also rustical
1
as in uncomfortable
lacking social grace and assurance
rustic yokels whose first impulse was to smirk gawkily at anyone not of their own kind
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in rural
of, relating to, associated with, or typical of open areas with few buildings or people
a rustic area that has a refreshing lack of billboards and shopping malls
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of rustic
Rick Jordan, Travel + Leisure, 8 Feb. 2026
Neither modish nor cookie-cutter rustic in aesthetic, the hotel, tucked away off the main street in the village of Malfa, feels like a genuine home, where old framed maps, ceramics, pots, and paintings, along with other antiques, have been collected over the years.
—Rosalyn Wikeley, Condé Nast Traveler, 10 Jan. 2026
Midwest Living, 11 June 2026
Breen won the prestigious Hickstead Derby in 2022 — one of the world’s toughest jumping classes and one that marries the sport’s rustic origins with modern-day innovations.
—Tilly Berendt, New York Times, 11 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for rustic
Noun
It is centred around a striking building topped with turf, a nod to Iceland’s traditional architecture, with aqueduct-like arches and an angular timber roof inside—a little Hobbit-like, a little sci-fi rustic.
—Rick Jordan, Travel + Leisure, 8 Feb. 2026
Neither modish nor cookie-cutter rustic in aesthetic, the hotel, tucked away off the main street in the village of Malfa, feels like a genuine home, where old framed maps, ceramics, pots, and paintings, along with other antiques, have been collected over the years.
—Rosalyn Wikeley, Condé Nast Traveler, 10 Jan. 2026
Adjective
Don’t leave without dropping by the rustic farm store to peruse body lotions and scrubs handcrafted onsite with the farm’s lavender essential oils.
—Midwest Living, 11 June 2026
Breen won the prestigious Hickstead Derby in 2022 — one of the world’s toughest jumping classes and one that marries the sport’s rustic origins with modern-day innovations.
—Tilly Berendt, New York Times, 11 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for rustic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rustic
Noun
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In the early nineteenth century, after Egyptian peasants happened upon ancient fragments, archaeologists began to look in such places for pieces of manuscript, which could vary in size from a few letters to a slice of text.—
Madeleine Schwartz,
The New York Review of Books,
6 June 2026
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That moniker comes from a violent 1967 peasant uprising against oppressive landlords in Naxalbari, a village in the shadow of the Himalayan foothills in northeast India.—
Dhruv Tikekar,
CNN Money,
30 May 2026
Adjective
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Still, the atmosphere was uncomfortable enough that Habermas left the institute a year later, to write his Habilitation, or second dissertation, a requirement for qualifying as a professor in German universities.—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
15 June 2026
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Don’t suffer through summer in uncomfortable shoes.—
Maggie Horton,
PEOPLE,
15 June 2026
Adjective
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The air can be so quiet in the Bates County town of Butler, a rural community of 4,400 one hour south of Kansas City, that when the skydivers, often strapped in tandem, pop their chutes, neighbors Daniel and Kendra Stewart can hear the wafting sound of them filling with air.—
Eric Adler,
Kansas City Star,
15 June 2026
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Butler Memorial Airport is a small, rural airport about an hour’s drive south of Kansas City.—
Cindy Von Quednow,
CNN Money,
14 June 2026
Noun
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Marlowe, the son of a poor Canterbury cobbler, and Shakespeare, the son of a Stratford glover and alderman, were both unlikely artistic geniuses, provincials in a nation in which social class was rigidly fixed.—
Heller McAlpin,
Christian Science Monitor,
10 Sep. 2025
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Sanders is a Catholic priest and former Augustinian provincial in California and lives in the Augustinian community in North Park.—
Gary Sanders,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
14 May 2025
Adjective
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These memories of his brief, sad human life are uneasy dreams that Lestat wakes from on his tour bus as the sun sets over the road to Toledo.—
Rebecca Alter,
Vulture,
15 June 2026
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On top of the tense, uneasy dynamic created by the duo’s pairing, the series is wrapped in a twisty web of peripheral problems.—
Matt Cabral,
Entertainment Weekly,
15 June 2026
Noun
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When Johnson was vice president and visiting Europe, there were reports filed by these British ambassadors in several countries that basically made fun of him as a hick.—
Wendy Naugle,
USA Today,
14 Apr. 2026
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So a bunch of hicks from Topeka were left up to our own devices of going down to Robert Hall and finding something that might be kind of cool.—
Devon Ivie,
Vulture,
8 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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This layout makes the monitor a natural fit for high-traffic environments like banking counters, medical reception desks, and service queues where traditional screen-sharing is often clumsy or compromises privacy.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
8 June 2026
-
The clumsy third inning from the defense didn’t help Tong, who threw 27 pitches in the frame.—
Will Sammon,
New York Times,
3 June 2026
Noun
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Simply put, the small-town bumpkins from North Florida who support this idea should be made to pay for it.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
18 Feb. 2026
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Clifton loved motorcycles and, as Hawkins said, was a country bumpkin who loved nature.—
Craig Shoup,
Nashville Tennessean,
21 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Rustic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rustic. Accessed 20 Jun. 2026.
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