as in hicks
an awkward or simple person especially from a small town or the country
rural voters were tired of being treated as rubes by state officials, who showed interest in them only at election time
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Recent Examples of rubes
Harry would be right to be bitter; Sally’s optimism was for rubes.
—
Alexandra Schwartz, New Yorker, 17 Dec. 2025
Alexandra Schwartz, New Yorker, 17 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rubes
Noun
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Let the peasants squabble amongst themselves about the refs and how unfair life is.—
Pete Grathoff,
Kansas City Star,
13 Feb. 2026
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Some of us were born black, born from bad classes—the offspring of capitalists, rich peasants, counterrevolutionaries.—
Danielle Parker,
CBS News,
20 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Deep cherry red, black, and white come together to create a whimsical world of dice, cards, sad clowns, and a ticking pocketwatch.—
Samantha Brash,
InStyle,
8 Feb. 2026
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These clowns don't even have the courage of their pathetic White supremacist convictions.—
Bill Goodykoontz,
AZCentral.com,
6 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Using his Hollywood makeup father’s prosthetics, Holliday transforms himself into hayseed-like Chad Powers.—
Baz Bamigboye,
Deadline,
30 Sep. 2025
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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.—
Scott Tobias,
Vulture,
31 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Rubes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rubes. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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