rural.

Relating to the countryside and communities outside towns and cities.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• rural community
• rural district
• rural life

On the page

The rural district shared one secondary school among eight villages.

A rural address did not stop her from running an international business.

Neighbors in the rural community organized rides to the hospital.

Usage notes

Primary category: setting. Describes context, not necessarily farming, isolation, poverty, or tranquility. Avoid using rural as shorthand for backward. Usually non-gradable as a category; more rural / most rural can compare character.