hinterland

[ hin-ter-land ]
See synonyms for hinterland on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Often hinterlands. the remote or less developed parts of a country; back country: The hinterlands are usually much more picturesque than the urban areas.

  2. the land lying behind a coastal region.

  1. an area or sphere of influence in the unoccupied interior claimed by the state possessing the coast.

  2. an inland area supplying goods, especially trade goods, to a port.

Origin of hinterland

1
1885–90; <German: literally, hinder land, i.e., land behind

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use hinterland in a sentence

  • To be more precise, by the mental hinterlands of three or four thousand individuals.

    The New Machiavelli | Herbert George Wells
  • Across her mind flashed a vivid picture of the journey, pregnant with adventure, across the wild hinterlands—they two together.

    North of Fifty-Three | Bertrand W. Sinclair
  • The land rises steadily from the sea as you get into the Hinterlands, and the mountain ranges run parallel to the sea.

  • Their natural pretensions to the hinterlands have been grievously curtailed, and what ought to have been British is now French.

    Through South Africa | Henry M. Stanley
  • In one sense it was purely maritime, as its posts were all on the Bay shore, while the French traded chiefly in the hinterlands.

    All Afloat | William Wood

British Dictionary definitions for hinterland

hinterland

/ (ˈhɪntəˌlænd) /


noun
  1. land lying behind something, esp a coast or the shore of a river

  2. remote or undeveloped areas of a country

  1. an area located near and dependent on a large city, esp a port

Origin of hinterland

1
C19: from German, from hinter behind + land land; see hinder ²

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012