Potemkin1
/pəˈtɛmkɪn
/A battleship whose crew mutinied in the Russian Revolution of 1905 when in the Black Sea, bombarding Odessa before seeking asylum in Romania. The incident persuaded the tsar to agree to a measure of reform.
Potemkin2
/pəˈtɛmkɪn/adjective informal
Having a false or deceptive appearance, especially one presented for the purpose of propaganda: it is a Potemkin party; there is little behind the impressive parliamentary group seen on television...
- Now, there's a 21st century twist on the Potemkin village: Potemkin refugee camps!
- Although I thought of Potemkin villages and Soviet demands for conformity, 1 believe that I heard statements of genuine belief.
- Pervading everything is an atmosphere of laziness and Potemkin villages.
Origin
1930s: from Grigori Aleksandrovich Potyomkin (often transliterated Potemkin), a favourite of Empress Catherine II of Russia, who reputedly gave the order for sham villages to be built for the empress's tour of the Crimea in 1787.
- high private
- high profile
- high-proof
- high-quality
- high-ranker
- high-ranking
- high-reaching
- High Renaissance
- high-rent
- high-res
- high-resolution
- high-rider
- high-ridged
- high-riding
- high-rigged
- high-rise
- high-riser
- high-rising
- high-risk
- high road
- high roller
- high-rolling
- high school
- high school dropout
- high schooler