as in hick
an awkward or simple person especially from a small town or the country
though educated and sophisticated, the country singer always put on the facade of an amiable hayseed when in public
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hayseed
Using his Hollywood makeup father’s prosthetics, Holliday transforms himself into hayseed-like Chad Powers.
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Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 30 Sep. 2025
Baby Billy’s first full-frontal scene is more a testament to Walton Goggins’s incredible hayseed bravado in the rule.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 31 Mar. 2025
The movie depicts Nashville as a town full of hayseeds who are bamboozled by the fast-talking Reynolds.
—Keith Sharon, Nashville Tennessean, 2 Feb. 2025
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
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
Grey Henson and Ashley D. Kelley as the gleeful Storytellers, Kevin Cahoon as a hayseed philosopher and Caroline Innerbichler as the requisite ingenue all joyfully indulge the cheeky, harmlessly off-color vibe.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 20 Apr. 2023
Sort of like how Axl Rose is some hayseed with chops like Chopin.
—Mike Postalakis, SPIN, 3 Aug. 2022
To share the workload, and also to teach him how to do everything, Jeremy brings on an uneducated 21-year-old blond hayseed named Kaleb who sports a series of increasingly dire haircuts as the series goes on.
—Kyle Smith, National Review, 8 Aug. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hayseed
Noun
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Which is to say, this isn’t the story of a greedy, materialistic man who suffers a crisis of conscience while trying to pry a priceless treasure away from an uneducated hick who doesn’t know any better.—
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Ricky develops romantic feelings for Chad even though Russ plays him as a soft-spoken, possibly dim rural hick who may well be a literal man-child.—
Noun
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It was adapted into a huge hit movie starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray, but the breakout characters were local yokels Ma and Pa Kettle, who went on to star in eight spinoff movies.—
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To the yokel who makes his donations in cash and is proud of himself for knowing what LEO stands for.—
Noun
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Clifton loved motorcycles and, as Hawkins said, was a country bumpkin who loved nature.—
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Ma and Pa Kent are the most stereotypical country bumpkins imaginable.—
Noun
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Because of France’s social structure, the bulk of the financial strain fell to its peasants, while the top 1% was virtually exempt from paying taxes.—
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One of the most stunning exhibitions of the year put the spotlight on Our Lady of Guadalupe, which has a long history dating back to 1531, tied to four apparitions of the Virgin Mary to a peasant in Mexico.—
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.—
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Sanders is a Catholic priest and former Augustinian provincial in California and lives in the Augustinian community in North Park.—
Noun
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Harry would be right to be bitter; Sally’s optimism was for rubes.—
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As for partisan rubes like Senator Van Hollen, Maryland can do better.—
Noun
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Brewer depicts the world of music impersonators with a fair amount of affection, like the rodeo clowns of late 20th-century America.—
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Cirque du Soleil is known for its shows featuring acrobats, athletes and clowns – all doing spectacular feats.—
Noun
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Other trending styles including quiet luxury, European rustic, and warm minimalism.—
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Places to Stay Hotels Ten Bits Ranch Brower loves staying at this rustic, family-friendly lodging in Terlingua, just 20 minutes north of the park’s west entrance.—
Cite this Entry
“Hayseed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hayseed. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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