Potemkin village
or Po·tem·kin Vil·lage
[ poh-tem-kin vil-ij, puh‐ ]
noun
a pretentiously showy or imposing façade intended to mask or divert attention from an embarrassing or shabby fact or condition.
Origin of Potemkin village
11935–40; after Prince Potëmkin, who allegedly had villages of cardboard constructed for Catherine II's visit to the Ukraine and the Crimea in 1787
Words Nearby Potemkin village
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use Potemkin village in a sentence
It's as Potemkin village-ish a piece of journalistic writing as I've seen in a long time.
The lobbyist-journalist-politician scandal has dynamited the Potemkin village that is Indian journalism.
It was a Potemkin village of technology, camera-ready but a long way short of leaving the ground.
For years, critics scoffed at Amazon.com and Jeff Bezos, dismissing the online retailer as an Information Age Potemkin village.
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