Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, relating to, or typical of country life or country people. See Synonyms at rural.
- adj. Lacking refinement or elegance; coarse.
- adj. Charmingly simple or unsophisticated.
- adj. Made of unfinished or roughly finished wood: rustic furniture.
- adj. Having a rough or textured appearance; rusticated. Used of masonry.
- n. A rural person.
- n. A person regarded as crude, coarse, or simple.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of or belonging to the country or to country people; characteristic of rural life; hence, plain; homely; inartificial; countrified: as, rustic fare; rustic garb.
- Living in the country; rural, as opposed to town-bred; hence, unsophisticated; artless; simple; sometimes in a depreciatory sense, rude; awkward; boorish.
- Made of rustic work, especially in wood. See rustic work, below.
- In anc. Latin manuscript, noting letters of one of the two oldest forms, the other being the square. The rustic letters are as accurately formed as the square or lapidary letters, but are lighter and more slender, with the horizontal strokes more or less oblique and curved. These letters, being easier to form, were more generally used than the square in Roman manuscripts from the first to the fifth century, at which time both forms were generally superseded by the uncial writing.
- In woodwork, summer-houses, garden furniture, etc., made from rough limbs and roots of trees arranged in fanciful forms.
- Synonyms and Pastoral, Bucolic, etc. See rural.
- Countrified.
- n. One who lives in the country; a countryman; a peasant; in a contemptuous use, a clown or boor.
- n. Rustic work.
- n. In ceramics, a ground picked with a sharp point so as to have the surface roughened with hollows having sharp edges, sometimes waved, as if imitating slag.
- n. In entomology, a noctuid or rustic moth: as, the northern rustic, Agrotis lucernea; the unarmed rustic, A. inermis.
- Noting a peculiar form or style of lumber with lapping edges, much used in place of clapboards for covering the exteriors of buildings and also used to some extent as a material for the ceilings and interior walls of frame houses. The commonest form consists of a board, usually about six inches in width, which is finished with a beveled edge so constructed as to lap over the lower edge of the board just above. The lower edge is finished with a bevel also, beyond which projects a short tongue, over which the upper bevel of the next lower board is to lap.
Wiktionary
- adj. country-styled or pastoral; rural
- adj. unfinished or roughly finished work
- adj. crude, rough
- n. A (sometimes unsophisticated) person from a rural area.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or pertaining to the country; rural.
- adj. Rude; awkward; rough; unpolished.
- adj. Coarse; plain; simple.
- adj. Simple; artless; unadorned; unaffected.
- n. An inhabitant of the country, especially one who is rude, coarse, or dull; a clown.
- n. Poetic A rural person having a natural simplicity of character or manners; an artless, unaffected person.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. characteristic of the fields or country
- adj. characteristic of rural life
- adj. awkwardly simple and provincial
- n. an unsophisticated country person
Etymologies
- From Latin rūsticus. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English rustik, from Old French rustique, from Latin rūsticus, from rūs, country. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“But our ancestors were necessarily limited in their pleasures, and to them Richmond was a God-send, especially to men like Selwyn, or Queensberry, or Walpole, who delighted in social intercourse, and liked to enjoy what they called rustic life with as much comfort as the age provided.”
“It was a great annoyance to the British officers and soldiers, to be thus hemmed in by what they termed a rustic rout with calico frocks and fowling-pieces.”
“We don´t mind if lodging is "rustic" and had a lot of fun staying in rustic cabins run by indigenous folks when we visited Yaxchilán and Bonampak in the Lacandon Forest in Chiapas.”
“Crushing throngs of people laid out on the beach under umbrellas or sat in rustic wooden chairs from porches overlooking the river while children swam and played on red swings, all provided by the Tribune.”
“Most of the wineries are family-run affairs where tastings are conducted by appointment in rustic rooms by the owner or a family member.”
“Both towns are known for inexpensive, well-designed furniture in rustic styles.”
“Ill-advised additions had been made, according to the fashion of the times: a den paneled in rustic pine, a long screened porch, some dormers scattered above the horizontal roof line like eyes peering down the drive.”
“For I am a patrician Cornelius and you no more than a rustic from the Latin hills.”
“Indeed, the haughtiest duke that ever rolled in his chariot is far less proud than your plain English rustic, and far less difficult to propitiate.”
“These aromatic leaves of the sweet-fern are frequently used in rustic practice to stop bleeding; we have never seen the remedy tried, but have often heard it recommended.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘rustic’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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CULI - wine-tasting adjectives
In this area of expertise nouns are frequently used as adjectives (almond, bacon, cider, diesel, fennel, fresh-cut hay, wool) or new adjectives are formed (appley, berrylike, citrusy, full-bodied, ...
acetic, acidic, aged, angular, appley, astringent, attractive, austere, berrylike, big, bitter, brawny and 511 more...
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7thGradeWords
horde, doggedly, retina, frail, jovial, insidious, injudicious, brazen, tentative, hortle, adaver, benign and 91 more...
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gre
municipal, whit, dissembler, berate, liberally, embellish, dissimilitude, histrionics, flamboyance, bombastic, bovine, calumny and 142 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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(1st_wk_150)-Dec_5_2012
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron, paradox, realm and 297 more...
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January 2012
bloviate, pastiche, apparat, facile, paroxysm, pique, bedfellow, pedigree, tutelage, protege, protégé, retroactive and 196 more...
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The Secret Garden
sickly, fretful, toddle, cross, stammer, manor, slink, grind, disdain, imploringly, wring, wailing and 30 more...
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utopia
Words used in the book utopia by sir thomas more
credence, proverb, provost, dissimulation, espy, neologism, vouchsafe, liberality, weal, inquisitive, assentation, verily and 21 more...
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Lesson 15
complement, component, conjure, emphasize, homage, impromptu, lush, medley, oblige, pretentious, prowess, rustic and 3 more...
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15
complement, component, conjure, emphasize, homage, impromptu, lush, medley, oblige, pretentious, prowess, rustic and 3 more...
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Lesson 15
Complement, Component, Conjure, Emphasize, Homage, Impromptu, Lush, medley, oblige, pretentious, rustic, subtle and 2 more...
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Enter the Rustics
A fanfare for the Common Man. Words for rustics, yokels, and woolhats of all sorts.
woolhat, yokel, rustic, hucklebuck, hick, redneck, bogan, goober, hayseed, bumpkin, countryman, peasant and 70 more...
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Bread-related Words
Words related to bread and bread-making
barm, ferment, knead, couche, proof, gluten, rustic, brioche, semolina, durum, rye, yeast and 21 more...
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ChortleGiggleSnort
Significant Words- Guiding you on your path to Snazzibility
flimsy, feeble, ranting, ramble, narky, snazzy, yoghurt, bulbous, pustule, globulous, geranium, megalomaniac and 521 more...
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Buttery
Words that make me feel cozy
Noodle, Nugget, Butter, Soft, Snug, Feather, Socks, Knit, Mug, Curl, Billow, Lounge and 315 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for rustic.

janejetson via L Gilmore: crap pile Feb 27, 2010
cabbageeenfrancais MWAHAHAHAHA it reminds me of a hillbilly riding along in a truck with a piece of corn and a straw hat :) Sep 25, 2008