Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

tin-pot dictatorship

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.44 in modern English

Syllables: tin-pot -dic-ta-tor-ship
IPA

28

Scrabble Score

18

Letters

6

Syllables

11

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A country ruled by a tin-pot dictator; an autocracy, especially one ruled by someone with delusions of grandeur.

Derogatory

Example Sentences

"And, if so, why not the arms-dealer who sells his products to some tin-pot dictatorship, knowing that they will be used to slaughter innocent women and kids?"
"Though venality rather than thuggery is the dominant characteristic of the Gabonese political system, to an outsider the distinction is not always clear and the country can look like a classic tin-pot dictatorship—a sort of banana republic (with the part of the bananas played by Cameroonian understudies)"
"Speaking of the suspension of habeas corpus, and the curbs on the press, he warned that Mrs Gandhi was turning her country into a 'tin-pot dictatorship'."

Etymology

From tin-pot dictator + -ship.

Word Breakdown

Suffix: tin-pot dictator

Usage

Derogatory

Inflected Forms

tin-pot dictatorships (plural)

Questions

What does tin-pot dictatorship mean?: A country ruled by a tin-pot dictator; an autocracy, especially one ruled by someone with delusions of grandeur.
Where does tin-pot dictatorship come from?: From tin-pot dictator + -ship.

How to pronounce tin-pot dictatorship

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