rural area has 1 distinct synonym spread across 1 of its 1 sense. Each sense below keeps its own list, because a synonym belongs to a meaning and not to a word: swapping one sense's substitute into another sense's sentence is how a thesaurus makes writing worse. Its one recorded opposite is urban area.
Counts are distinct word forms across every sense. A synonym that appears under three senses is counted once here and shown three times below, under each sense it belongs to.
an area outside of cities and towns
“his poetry celebrated the slower pace of life in the country”
Synonyms, antonyms and the broader and narrower relations for rural area come from Princeton University’s WordNet. Full sources and licences.