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
apparently impressive but actually sham or artificial
North Korea's Potemkin hospital
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It’s possible this has left him thinking the world’s bad guys are a Potemkin village, that they talk big but fold quickly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 5, 2026
They are the world’s most expensive decorations — a clean-energy Potemkin village stretched across the provinces.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 21, 2026
It is only Potemkin objectivity: empty, unconvincing, and ultimately wielded in service of something awful.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2024
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 ● Apr. 21, 2024
Alexandra Potemkin and the Space Shuttle to Planet Z was my favorite so far.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
