hick 1 of 2

noun

ˈhik How to pronounce hick (audio)
Definition of hicknext
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

hick

2 of 2

adjective

1
as in hickish

Related Words

Dissimilar Words
2
as in unsophisticated

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Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of 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. — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 7 Feb. 2025 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. — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 29 Oct. 2025
Adjective
Rimac moved to Germany at age 2 and then to an independent Croatia in his early teens, where he was teased for his hick Bosnian accent. — Ben Oliver, Robb Report, 3 Oct. 2021 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. — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 13 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for hick
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hick
  1. bumpkin
  2. folksy
  3. unsophisticated
  4. yokel
  5. countrified
  6. reactionary
  7. hayseed
  8. down-home
Noun
  • 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
  • Clifton loved motorcycles and, as Hawkins said, was a country bumpkin who loved nature.
    — Craig Shoup, Nashville Tennessean, 21 Oct. 2025
Definition of bumpkin
Adjective
  • That voice — warm but firm, clear yet folksy, deliberate and passionate — rings through every gallery, praising past heroes and encouraging future ones.
    — Justin Davidson, Curbed, 4 June 2026
  • Bender and David thought Gore’s folksy delivery of complicated scientific and climatological information would lend itself to a documentary that might add urgency to environmental policy debates.
    — Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 20 May 2026
Definition of folksy
Adjective
  • Sophisticated scams The days of thinking of scammers as unsophisticated, disjointed actors are over in 2026, according to Yoon.
    — Ella Moore July 2, Miami Herald, 2 July 2026
  • Phishing remains one of the most effective means of gaining access to accounts, despite the relatively unsophisticated technical prowess required.
    — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 29 June 2026
Definition of unsophisticated
Noun
  • It was left to the feds in Boston to arrest Farwell, after Meatball’s local yokels adamantly refused to do anything other than try to broom the crime by one of their own.
    — Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 26 Apr. 2026
  • Part of his way of taking it yokel — besides bringing in Foo Fighter Rami Jaffee on accordion and Willie Aron blowing harmonica — was to add a previously unheard yodel to the chorus.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 27 Oct. 2025
Definition of yokel
Adjective
  • Lines that seem artlessly off-the-cuff on first pass accrue an unexpected weight and purpose the fourth time through; the countrified guitar lick that sounds so chipper at the start of a song is dripping with melancholy by the end.
    — Stuart Berman, Pitchfork, 4 June 2026
  • Timed to coincide with Cactus League spring training, the countrified Innings Fest offshoot is in its third year, bringing 20 artists with no overlapping sets to two main stages.
    — Ed Masley, AZCentral.com, 26 Feb. 2026
Definition of countrified
Adjective
  • However, the team isn’t presenting Sentnor as a reactionary move to Straus’ departure.
    — Asli Pelit, New York Times, 19 June 2026
  • Only within the logic of an authoritarian or deeply reactionary culture can justice and beauty become controversial aims.
    — The Atlantic, The Atlantic, 16 June 2026
Definition of reactionary
Noun
  • Duke Slater, pal of Jim Nabors’ hayseed Gomer Pyle on the ’60s sitcom of that name, died of natural causes today at UCLA Hospital in Los Angeles.
    — Greg Evans, Deadline, 12 June 2026
  • 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
Definition of hayseed
Adjective
  • Oviedo residents turned out by the hundreds for the sunny afternoon of crowd-pleasing contests and down-home edibles at tiny booths lining a grassy lot next to the Meat World parking lot.
    — Orlando Sentinel Staff, The Orlando Sentinel, 4 July 2026
  • Charlotte rapper DaBaby is expanding his brand beyond his music empire with the opening of a franchised restaurant featuring his chicken and waffles and other down-home culinary creations.
    — Joe Marusak, Charlotte Observer, 27 June 2026
Definition of down-home

Browse Nearby Words

hic jacets
hick
hickey
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Cite this Entry

“Hick.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hick. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of hick for Spanish Speakers

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