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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Recent Examples of hayseed
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
Lilly’s bequest was big enough to impress the hayseeds at the feed store, but, as the magazine’s editor, Wiman was making only sixty thousand dollars a year.
—Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 4 Dec. 2023
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
Who is this gosh-darn hayseed?
—Kyle Smith, National Review, 30 Nov. 2020
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
Callum Scott Howells is another standout as Colin, a Welsh hayseed who’s wonderstruck by city life.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 11 Mar. 2021
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
Lilly’s bequest was big enough to impress the hayseeds at the feed store, but, as the magazine’s editor, Wiman was making only sixty thousand dollars a year.
—Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 4 Dec. 2023
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
Who is this gosh-darn hayseed?
—Kyle Smith, National Review, 30 Nov. 2020
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
Callum Scott Howells is another standout as Colin, a Welsh hayseed who’s wonderstruck by city life.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 11 Mar. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hayseed
Noun
-
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
-
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
-
Florida yokels versus the elite Hollywood movie-star kind of group.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
26 July 2024
-
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
-
Going to the Ron Burgundy–Ricky Bobby idiot well one time too many, Ferrell plays Cam Brady, a lazy, cynical longtime congressman running against a local bumpkin (Galifianakis).—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
4 Feb. 2025
-
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.—
Philip Elliott,
TIME,
9 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
The vast majority were men—rural peasants from Guangdong Province, situated on the southeast coast of China, near Hong Kong.—
Jane Hu,
The New Yorker,
23 Jan. 2025
-
The peewee population interacted with each other in various settings and included bocce bowlers, bare-bottomed peasants, baguette bakers, blind men, the mustachioed mayor, female fishmongers, dunce hat-wearing schoolboys, snail saleswomen, and gobs more characters.—
gqlshare,
Orange County Register,
15 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
This removed one of the last obstacles preventing poor provincials from governing the empire.—
Jeffrey E. Schulman / Made by History,
TIME,
20 Dec. 2024
-
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
-
Well, the rubes just elected Donald Trump president.—
Chris Roemer,
Baltimore Sun,
8 Nov. 2024
-
That’s easy: a rube, chump, or mark, whose naive optimism sets them up for betrayal.—
Jamil Zaki,
TIME,
3 Sep. 2024
Noun
-
The singer had a slew of background dancers with clown makeup and country outfits.—
Nicole Fell,
The Hollywood Reporter,
3 Feb. 2025
-
The back-up dancers were a colorful mix of rodeo clowns, the performance ending with a passionate guitar display and an expression of confident satisfaction from Roan.—
Evan Nicole Brown,
TIME,
3 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
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
-
Venues tend to lean rustic in much of Hillsborough County.—
Yacob Reyes,
Axios,
20 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near hayseed
Cite this Entry
“Hayseed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hayseed. Accessed 13 Feb. 2025.
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