Potëmkin

[ poh-tem-kin, puh-; Russian puh-tyawm-kyin ]

noun

1. Prince Gri·go·ri A·le·ksan·dro·vich [prins, gri-, gawr, -ee al-ig-, zan, -dr, uh, -vich, -, zahn, -, gryi-, gaw, -ryee uh-lyi-, ksahn, -dr, uh, -vyich], 1739–91, Russian statesman and favorite of Catherine II.

Potemkin

/ paˈtjɔmkin; pɒˈtɛmkɪn /

noun

1. PotemkinGrigori Aleksandrovich17391791MRussianMILITARY: soldierPOLITICS: statesman Grigori Aleksandrovich (ɡriˈɡɔrij alɪkˈsandrəvitʃ). 1739–91, Russian soldier and statesman; lover of Catherine II, whose favourite he remained until his death, and who is reputed to have erected sham villages along the route of the Empress's 1787 tour of the Crimea
2. apparently impressive but actually sham or artificial

   North Korea's Potemkin hospital

Example Sentences

It is only Potemkin objectivity: empty, unconvincing, and ultimately wielded in service of something awful.

From Slate

It happened because an entire Potemkin village of originalist academics, originalist law-review articles, originalist theories—chiefly funded by very contemporary oligarchs—was built up to present it as a reversion to the way things always were, as opposed to a revanchist attack on modernity itself; an attack on the common law itself and an assault on the idea of a pluralist, expansive vision of liberty.

From Slate

An ice cream stand on the promenade near the Potemkin Stairs, Odesa’s most famous landmark.

From Los Angeles Times

Odessa’s most famous landmark, the Potemkin Stairs — best known for the harrowing tumbling-baby-carriage scene in the 1925 film “Battleship Potemkin” — are topped with a roll of barbed wire.

From Los Angeles Times

It had all the hallmarks of an authoritarian Potemkin plebiscite.

From New York Times