hinterland

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a remote region far from cities or major centers of activity

   The road winds through a sparsely populated hinterland.

2. 2
   noun

   the inland area behind a coast or port that it serves economically

   The railway links the port with its agricultural hinterland.

3. 3
   noun

   an area of knowledge or experience lying beyond what is familiar or central

   The essay explores the hinterland between memory and imagination.

Borrowed in the late nineteenth century from German Hinterland, literally ‘land behind,’ from hinter (‘behind’) and Land (‘land’). It first referred in English to the inland territory connected with a coast or port.

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