a lame comedy about the misadventures of yokels in the big city

Recent Examples on the Web

At first he was depicted as a country yokel, but by the end of that first season the puppet’s operator, Carroll Spinney, had changed tack. The Economist, "Big Bird flies away," 14 Dec. 2019

King himself directed this gloriously goofy adaptation of a short story from his Night Shift collection about a group of local yokels trapped in a roadside truck stop by a convoy of killer big rigs. Matthew Chernov, chicagotribune.com, "10 Stephen King films that deserve remakes," 5 Sep. 2019

Urbanites defined themselves as forward-looking sophisticates who sneered at yokels in backwaters; cosmopolitanism faced off against parochialism. Sarah Churchwell, The New York Review of Books, "America’s Original Identity Politics," 7 Feb. 2019

Every single in-game model, from huge wooden shacks to flying spaceships, and from slack-jawed yokels to individual blades of grass, has been handsomely redrawn by this remaster's development team. Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica, "After 8Chan-gate, THQN unveils stirring anti-Nazi game set in 1930s Germany," 11 June 2019

How not to be a local yokel The parents of one of David Benglian’s Penn classmates bought their son a Society Hill townhouse to live in during the school year. Alfred Lubrano, Philly.com, "Class never dismissed: First-generation Penn alumni still feel like imposters," 25 Oct. 2017

Though comic buffoons and yokels are scattered through a number of Shakespeare’s tragedies, Lear’s universe is relentlessly bleak, and the Fool, despite his jingling, is neither oaf nor jester. Cynthia Ozick, New York Times, "King Lear Is Reborn as a 21st-Century Media Mogul," 25 Oct. 2017

Everyone is too goddamn afraid of Trump and his band of yokels. GQ, "ESPN Fed Jemele Hill to the Wolves," 11 Oct. 2017

Though stereotypes cast the Tohoku residents as yokels, Parry finds them sophisticated, if slightly more rugged due to the rough terrain and harsh climate of the region. Lisa Levy, New Republic, "A Journalist Confronts the Japanese Tsunami," 9 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'yokel.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.