Associations to the word «Potemkin»

Wiktionary

POTEMKIN VILLAGE, noun. (idiomatic) Any false construct devised to disguise a shortcoming or improve appearances.
POTEMKIN VILLAGES, noun. Plural of Potemkin village

Dictionary definition

POTEMKIN, noun. A Russian officer and politician who was a favorite of Catherine II and in 1762 helped her to seize power; when she visited the Crimea in 1787 he gave the order for sham villages to be built (1739-1791).

Wise words

Words are always getting conventionalized to some secondary meaning. It is one of the works of poetry to take the truants in custody and bring them back to their right senses.
William Butler Yeats