noun
countryside
Land outside towns and cities, especially rural areas.
We leave the city and spend weekends exploring the countryside.
Etymology
Country supplies the rural-land sense, and side identifies a surrounding stretch or region. Countryside gathers the open land and settlements outside urban areas into a landscape term.
More examples
- Small farms dot the surrounding countryside.
- The train winds through miles of open countryside.
- She lives in the countryside, far from the nearest town.
Forms
countryside
Similar words
- country
- Means rural land here, but can also mean a nation.
- farmland
- Refers specifically to land used for farming, not all rural land.