tin-pot idea
- noun
- UK
- She dismissed his tin-pot idea without a second thought.
Examples
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The committee ignored yet another tin-pot idea from the intern.
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We need to focus on serious plans, not tin-pot ideas.
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No one paid attention to his tin-pot idea during the brainstorming session.
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That was a tin-pot idea from the start.
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No one paid attention to his tin-pot idea during the brainstorming session.
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The committee ignored yet another tin-pot idea from the intern.
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We need to focus on serious plans, not tin-pot ideas.
Synonyms
13
6.7
An idea or plan that has no chance of success
A small, unimportant idea that has no practical use
A foolish idea that probably will not work
A silly idea that shows little thought
Antonyms
How Important
Surface Forms
Morphology
tin-pot + idea
The compound 'tin-pot' is a metaphorical derogatory modifier meaning cheap, petty, or second-rate; combining it with 'idea' yields an insignificantly poor or unserious plan. A B1 learner who knows 'tin' and 'pot' might infer a low-quality or trivial sense, but the conventionalized, depreciative meaning is not fully predictable from the literal parts, so partial transparency applies.
Etymology
Tin-pot idea comes from the image of cheap metal cooking pots, with tin and pot giving the sense of something small and low quality. So a plan called a tin-pot idea is seen as not serious, which is why it means 'trivial' or 'unimportant'.