N-COUNT
停滞（或落后）的地方；一潭死水
If you refer to a place or institution as a backwater, you think it is not developing properly because it is isolated from ideas and events in other places and institutions.
例句
Britain could become a political backwater with no serious influence in the world...
英国有变成在世界上没有真正影响力的政治死水之虞。
This agency will be relegated to the backwaters of Washington...
这个机构将沦落为华盛顿闭塞落后之地。