tin-pot dictatorship
- noun
- /tɪn pɑt dɪkˈtætʃəˌʃɪp/
- Offensive
:
dictadura de pacotilla
- Journalists criticized the leader's rule as nothing more than a tin-pot dictatorship.
Examples
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Living under a tin-pot dictatorship often leads to human rights abuses and lack of freedom.
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Many citizens fled the country to escape the tin-pot dictatorship that had taken over.
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The country is suffering under a tin-pot dictatorship.
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Many people fled the tin-pot dictatorship in search of freedom.
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Journalists criticized the leader's rule as nothing more than a tin-pot dictatorship.
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Living under a tin-pot dictatorship often leads to human rights abuses and lack of freedom.
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Many citizens fled the country to escape the tin-pot dictatorship that had taken over.
Synonyms
157
4.8
A government where one person or a small group has all power and does not allow political opposition
5
7.4
A government where one leader or a small group holds power and limits people's freedoms
How Powerful
Surface Forms
Morphology
tin-pot + dictatorship
The head noun 'dictatorship' is transparent, but the modifier 'tin-pot' is a colloquial, metaphorical adjective meaning cheap, petty, or insignificant rather than a literal tin container. A B1 learner who knows 'tin' and 'pot' may not reliably infer this extended adjectival sense without prior exposure, so the overall phrase is partially predictable but requires some idiomatic/cultural knowledge.
Etymology
Tin-pot dictatorship may come from the image of a cheap tin-pot, a small metal cooking pot that looks weak and not worth much. So people use the phrase to call a dictatorship petty, poor, or silly rather than powerful.