Potemkin

English

Etymology

From Russian Потёмкин (Potjómkin).

Proper noun

Potemkin

1. A transliteration of the Russian surname Потёмкин (Potjómkin).
2. (figurative, attributive) Resembling a Potemkin village; fake, facade.
   • 2007 August 14, Cory Doctorow, “Don't fall for the Potemkin scam”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     These Potemkin demonstrations depict a universe of happy devices, all seamlessly interoperating, tossing media back and forth to one another in a superbly orchestrated fashion.

   • 2019 October 8, Nur Iman, “I Was a Model Uighur. China Took My Family Anyway.”, in Foreign Policy‎^[2]:

     After more than a year of denial that they even existed, the Chinese Communist Party at last admitted, last fall, that it was holding people in camps in Xinjiang. It describes these as “reeducation” camps focused on potential terrorists or job training and takes carefully selected groups on Potemkin tours to visit them.

   • 2022 April 5, Norimitsu Onishi, “For Macron, France’s Troubled Industries Hit Home”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN:

     President Emmanuel Macron vowed an economic revival, but as he seeks re-election, a Potemkin factory in the town where he was raised shows just how hard that can be.

Derived terms

• Potemkinian
• Potemkin village