The rural meaning is anything to do with the countryside: places with farms, fields, villages and open land, where fewer people live and homes are spread out. Its opposite is urban, which describes towns and cities.
You meet the word in school geography, census reports, government schemes, job adverts and everyday talk about where people grew up. The basic idea is easy, but the exact line between rural and urban depends on who is drawing it, so this page also shows how official bodies define rural areas.
Entry at a glance
Meaning
Relating to the countryside rather than townsPart of speech
AdjectivePronunciation
ROOR-uhl (two syllables)Word forms
rurally, rurality, ruralnessOrigin
Latin ruralis, from rus, open country; in English from the early 1400sOpposite
UrbanClose words
Rustic, pastoral, agrarian, countryside
The rural meaning, sense by sense
- Of the countryside. A rural area, rural road or rural school is outside towns and cities. This is by far the most common use.
- Typical of country life. The word can describe a way of living linked to farming and small communities: rural traditions, rural crafts, rural values.
- An official category. Governments and census offices label places as rural or urban using set rules, and those labels affect funding, services and statistics.
Rural describes a place or a way of life. It does not, on its own, say anything about wealth or education. A rural district can be rich or poor, modern or traditional.
Rural in sentences
- She grew up in a rural part of Maharashtra, two hours by bus from the nearest college.
- Many rural clinics in the state struggle to keep a full-time doctor.
- The bank is opening branches in rural areas so farmers do not have to travel to the city.
- He swapped his apartment for a rural cottage with a vegetable garden and no streetlights.
- Fast internet still has not reached some rural counties in the US.
How official bodies define rural
Here the rural definition becomes precise. Most official systems define urban first and treat the rest as rural.
In India, the census counts as urban any place with a municipal body, plus any other place that has at least 5,000 people, a density of at least 400 people per square kilometre and at least 75 percent of the male main workers in non-farm jobs. Everything else, mostly villages, is rural.
In the United States, the Census Bureau's current rule treats an area as urban if it has at least 5,000 people or at least 2,000 housing units. Land outside those urban areas is rural. Other federal agencies use their own definitions for health and farm programs, so a place can be rural for one purpose and not another.
Where rural comes from
In the early 1400s English picked up rural, which had passed through Old French on its way from Latin ruralis, of the country. The root is rus (genitive ruris), meaning open land or countryside. The same Latin root gives us rustic. By the late 1500s English writers were using rural in direct contrast with city life, which is the sense most people know today.
Rural vs urban, rustic and pastoral
| Word | What it describes |
|---|---|
| Rural | Countryside areas or life; neutral and official |
| Urban | Towns and cities |
| Suburban | Housing areas on the edge of a city |
| Rustic | Simple, rough or charming in a country style, often about furniture or design |
| Pastoral | Peaceful countryside, often in art and poetry; also church care of people |
| Agrarian | To do with farming and land ownership |
Use rural for facts (rural population) and rustic for style (a rustic wooden table). Our page on agriculture covers the main work found in many rural places.
Common pairings and mistakes
Natural pairings include rural area, rural development, rural poverty, rural roads, rural population, rural healthcare and rural India or rural America. The adverb rurally is rare; people usually say in rural areas.
Watch out for these slips:
- Spelling. It is rural, not rurel or rular.
- Pronunciation. Many learners find the two r sounds hard. Say ROOR, then a light uhl.
- Using it as an insult. Rural is neutral. Words such as backward or hick carry a sneer; rural does not. You will find more place and public-life vocabulary, rural included, under law, politics and society.
Frequently asked questions
Is a village rural or urban?
In most countries a village is rural. In India, the census counts villages as rural unless they meet the size, density and job tests for a census town.
What is the definition of rural in simple words?
Rural means belonging to the countryside, outside towns and cities. Rural places usually have fewer people, more open land and often more farming.
What is the opposite of rural?
The opposite is urban, which describes towns and cities. Suburban sits in between and describes housing areas at the edge of a city.
How do you pronounce rural?
Say ROOR-uhl, leaning on ROOR. Some speakers blend it into one long syllable, and that is fine too.
What is the difference between rural and rustic?
Rural is a neutral word for countryside places and life. Rustic describes a simple, country style, often for furniture, food or decor, and can also mean rough or unpolished.
Can a small town be rural?
Yes, depending on the rules being used. A small market town may feel rural to visitors, and under some official definitions it would also be counted as rural.