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Glite Dictionary
Teapot Dome

Teapot Dome

1 9.9
A 1920s US political scandal about secretly giving oil fields to private companies
  • proper noun
  • /ˈtiːpɒt doʊm/
  • US
translation icon : Teapot Dome
  • The controversy surrounding the Teapot Dome scandal highlighted the unethical practices of government officials.

Examples

  • The Teapot Dome scandal revealed significant corruption within the Harding administration.

  • Barron's editor Jack Willoughby reminded the audience that it took seven years for the Teapot Dome scandal of 1921 to have a measurable impact on the economy.

    Blog text (8)

  • In school, we learned about the Teapot Dome scandal and its impact on U.S. politics.

Synonyms

Teapot Dome scandal
vsTeapot Dome
  • US
1 7.9

A large United States political corruption case in the early 1920s where government officials secretly leased oil land to companies

is the identical event name presented in a slightly shorter or alternate phrasing

Surface Forms

Teapot Dome main

Morphology

Teapot + Dome

This is a proper name for a specific historical political scandal (named after a place/feature) rather than a compositional phrase whose meaning follows from 'teapot' + 'dome'. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words would not be able to infer the sense of government corruption or secret leasing without cultural/historical knowledge, so the meaning is not derivable from the parts.

Etymology

Teapot Dome gets its name from a teapot-shaped rock near a government oil field in Wyoming where oil was kept. In the early 1920s officials secretly gave the oil leases to private companies, and the story became a famous 'scandal' that now stands for government 'corruption'.