Potemkin village Hear it!

Potemkin village definition

Potemkin village

a false front or facade

Etymology: after Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin, who it is said built fake villages to deceive Catherine the Great about his accomplishments

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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