| 释义 |
Potemkin village
Potemkin villagen. Something that appears elaborate and impressive but in actual fact lacks substance: "the Potemkin village of this country's borrowed prosperity" (Lewis H. Lapham).
[After Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkinwho is said to have had elaborate fake villages constructed for Catherine the Great's tours of Ukraine and Crimea.]Thesaurus| Noun | 1. | Potemkin village - something that seems impressive but in fact lacks substancefake, sham, postiche - something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be |
Translations
Potemkin village
Potemkin villageSomething that is made to seem very grand, elaborate, and/or prosperous for the purposes of impressing others, but which in reality has no real worth or substance. Taken from a story about Russian minister Grigory Potemkin (1739–1791), who allegedly erected false, painted façades to mimic a thriving, successful village along the Dnieper River in Crimea to impress the visiting Empress Catherine II. The tightly controlled totalitarian country is often accused of creating a Potemkin village each time it televises some event, a meager attempt to convince the outside world that its people are happy under the thumb of the dictatorship.See also: Potemkin, villagea Potemkin village a sham or unreal thing. Count Potemkin ( 1739–91 ), a favourite of Empress Catherine II of Russia, reputedly ordered a number of fake villages to be built for the empress's tour of the Crimea in 1787 .See also: Potemkin, villagePotemkin village
Potemkin villagefalse fronts constructed to deceive. [Russ. Hist.: Espy, 339]See: HypocrisyPotemkin village
Words related to Potemkin villagenoun something that seems impressive but in fact lacks substanceRelated Words |