as in bumpkin
an awkward or simple person especially from a small town or the country
city dwellers who looked down on their cousins from northern Maine as hicks
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in hickish
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
2
as in unsophisticated
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Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hick
David Fear, Rolling Stone, 7 Feb. 2025
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
Bethy Squires, Vulture, 13 Oct. 2025
One is a sick herb; the other is a hick Serb.
—Washington Post, 18 Nov. 2021
See All Example Sentences for hick
Noun
Sorrentino may also be exorcising some conflicting feelings about his birthplace, which is portrayed as a vulgar, crude place populated by crooks and hicks and photographed like its paradise.
—Adjective
Allen’s enduring affection for Keaton is as evident on the page as his insistence that Los Angeles (where Keaton was born and raised) is a hick town.
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for hick
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.—
Adjective
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And Blackstone is not an unsophisticated hotel owner.—
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Advocates and families of some deportees have said they were falsely accused based on little evidence, and law enforcement officials and documents suggest Tren de Aragua is a relatively small and unsophisticated organization.—
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.—
Adjective
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Gayner is an unabashed acolyte of the Berkshire way of doing things, right down to his company's portfolio of long-term investments in the stock market and a folksy apathy for quarterly earnings reports.—
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Throughout the New England property, guests will be able to enjoy festive decor like garlands, flower arrangements, and an 18-foot Christmas tree trimmed with vintage glass ornaments and folksy felt-and-wood embellishments.—
Adjective
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Most parents’ responses are reactionary in nature.—
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What’s up with reactionary old French screen legends?—
Noun
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Using his Hollywood makeup father’s prosthetics, Holliday transforms himself into hayseed-like Chad Powers.—
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Baby Billy’s first full-frontal scene is more a testament to Walton Goggins’s incredible hayseed bravado in the rule.—
Adjective
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The look blended ornate embroidery with a Western spin, merging high fashion with Wilson’s countrified finesse.—
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Between Ojai and Ventura, kids can try their hand at line dancing, bocce, and other countrified activities at Old Creek Ranch & Winery.—
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.—
Cite this Entry
“Hick.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hick. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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