Potemkin village
noun
Po·tem·kin village
pə-ˈtem(p)-kən- 
: an impressive facade or show designed to hide an undesirable fact or condition
Examples of Potemkin village in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The resort reproduces an ancient Apulian town and farmhouse in a project that some locals have likened to a Mediterranean Potemkin village.
—
Emma Bubola, New York Times, 11 June 2024
The fake blood, the cars on rails, the Potemkin villages, not to mention the computer graphics, the herds and armies and tempests that exist only in code.
—Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker, 6 May 2024
Is the immaculate beauty of that metro station a Potemkin village glossing over the fear with which many Russians live?
—Scott Simon, NPR, 23 Feb. 2024
Most of San Francisco will remain filthy, lawless and plagued with homeless encampments and drugs, and the Potemkin village will vanish after the summit.
—WSJ, 17 Nov. 2023
But Horizons Worlds, which as of October reportedly had less than two hundred thousand users, is so far more like a virtual Potemkin village constructed to keep the boss happy.
—Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 8 Dec. 2022
The $60 million headquarters, for one, was barely a Potemkin village.
—Leo Schwartz, Fortune, 22 Nov. 2022
These guys taking the field now are placeholders, the Potemkin village of playoff teams.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 14 July 2022
The McNamaras were a Potemkin village of family bliss.
—Washington Post, 6 May 2022
Emma Bubola, New York Times, 11 June 2024
The fake blood, the cars on rails, the Potemkin villages, not to mention the computer graphics, the herds and armies and tempests that exist only in code.
—Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker, 6 May 2024
Is the immaculate beauty of that metro station a Potemkin village glossing over the fear with which many Russians live?
—Scott Simon, NPR, 23 Feb. 2024
Most of San Francisco will remain filthy, lawless and plagued with homeless encampments and drugs, and the Potemkin village will vanish after the summit.
—WSJ, 17 Nov. 2023
But Horizons Worlds, which as of October reportedly had less than two hundred thousand users, is so far more like a virtual Potemkin village constructed to keep the boss happy.
—Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 8 Dec. 2022
The $60 million headquarters, for one, was barely a Potemkin village.
—Leo Schwartz, Fortune, 22 Nov. 2022
These guys taking the field now are placeholders, the Potemkin village of playoff teams.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 14 July 2022
The McNamaras were a Potemkin village of family bliss.
—Washington Post, 6 May 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Potemkin village.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Potemkin village.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Potemkin%20village. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
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