"tin-pot" meaning in English

See tin-pot in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˈtɪnpɒt/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈtɪnˌpɑt/ [General-American] Audio: En-us-tin-pot.ogg , En-au-tin-pot.ogg
Etymology: From tin + pot, referring to the cheapness and poor quality of pots made from tin or tin plate. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|tin|pot|notext=1|type=exocentric}} tin + pot Head templates: {{en-adj|-}} tin-pot (not comparable), {{term-label|en|figurative|informal}} (figurative, informal)
  1. Of inferior quality; shoddy. Tags: figuratively, informal, not-comparable Synonyms: low-quality Translations (of inferior quality; shoddy): евтин (evtin) (Bulgarian), долнокачествен (dolnokačestven) (Bulgarian), lichy [masculine] (Polish), nędzny [masculine] (Polish), de pacotilla (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-tin-pot-en-adj-b-dFBrgb Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English exocentric compounds, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Bulgarian translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 76 9 14 Disambiguation of English exocentric compounds: 53 15 32 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 76 9 15 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 75 8 17 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 87 4 9 Disambiguation of Terms with Bulgarian translations: 70 6 24 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 66 12 22 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 92 3 4 Disambiguation of 'of inferior quality; shoddy': 99 1
  2. Insignificant or minor, especially in an amusing and petty manner. Tags: figuratively, informal, not-comparable Synonyms: insignificant
    Sense id: en-tin-pot-en-adj-zYa55rkS
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: tinpot, tin pot Derived forms: tin-pot dictator, tin-pot dictatorship, TPLAC Related terms: tin-foil, tin plate

Noun

IPA: /ˈtɪnpɒt/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈtɪnˌpɑt/ [General-American] Audio: En-us-tin-pot.ogg , En-au-tin-pot.ogg Forms: tin-pots [plural]
Etymology: From tin + pot, referring to the cheapness and poor quality of pots made from tin or tin plate. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|tin|pot|notext=1|type=exocentric}} tin + pot Head templates: {{en-noun}} tin-pot (plural tin-pots)
  1. A tin-pot dictator. Tags: figuratively, informal
    Sense id: en-tin-pot-en-noun--zmM7O9z

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "tin-pot dictator"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "tin-pot dictatorship"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "TPLAC"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "tin",
        "3": "pot",
        "notext": "1",
        "type": "exocentric"
      },
      "expansion": "tin + pot",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From tin + pot, referring to the cheapness and poor quality of pots made from tin or tin plate.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "tin-pot (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "figurative",
        "3": "informal"
      },
      "expansion": "(figurative, informal)",
      "name": "term-label"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "tin-foil"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "tin plate"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "76 9 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "53 15 32",
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [
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            "Compound terms",
            "Terms by etymology"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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          "_dis": "76 9 15",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "75 8 17",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "87 4 9",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "70 6 24",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Bulgarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "66 12 22",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "92 3 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I:",
          "text": "It was a great comfort to turn from that chap to my influential friend, the battered, twisted, ruined, tin-pot steamboat.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of inferior quality; shoddy."
      ],
      "id": "en-tin-pot-en-adj-b-dFBrgb",
      "links": [
        [
          "inferior",
          "inferior#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "quality",
          "quality#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "shoddy",
          "shoddy#Adjective"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "low-quality"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "informal",
        "not-comparable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "evtin",
          "sense": "of inferior quality; shoddy",
          "word": "евтин"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "dolnokačestven",
          "sense": "of inferior quality; shoddy",
          "word": "долнокачествен"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "of inferior quality; shoddy",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "lichy"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "of inferior quality; shoddy",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "nędzny"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "of inferior quality; shoddy",
          "word": "de pacotilla"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1980 March 3, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “The Official Visit”, in Yes, Minister, season 1, episode 2, spoken by Jim Hacker and Humphrey Appleby (Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne):",
          "text": "Jim Hacker: Why are we having an official visit from this tin-pot little African country? / Sir Humphrey Appleby: Minister, I beg of you not to refer to it as a tin-pot little African country. It's an LDC.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Insignificant or minor, especially in an amusing and petty manner."
      ],
      "id": "en-tin-pot-en-adj-zYa55rkS",
      "links": [
        [
          "Insignificant",
          "insignificant"
        ],
        [
          "minor",
          "minor#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "amusing",
          "amusing#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "petty",
          "petty#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "manner",
          "manner#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "insignificant"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "informal",
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈtɪnpɒt/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈtɪnˌpɑt/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-us-tin-pot.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a4/En-us-tin-pot.ogg/En-us-tin-pot.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/En-us-tin-pot.ogg"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-tin-pot.ogg",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/En-au-tin-pot.ogg"
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "tinpot"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "tin pot"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tin-pot"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
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        "2": "tin",
        "3": "pot",
        "notext": "1",
        "type": "exocentric"
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      "expansion": "tin + pot",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From tin + pot, referring to the cheapness and poor quality of pots made from tin or tin plate.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "tin-pots",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "tin-pot (plural tin-pots)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A tin-pot dictator."
      ],
      "id": "en-tin-pot-en-noun--zmM7O9z",
      "links": [
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          "tin-pot dictator",
          "tin-pot dictator"
        ]
      ],
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        "informal"
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      "ipa": "/ˈtɪnpɒt/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
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    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈtɪnˌpɑt/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
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      "audio": "En-us-tin-pot.ogg",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/En-us-tin-pot.ogg"
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/En-au-tin-pot.ogg"
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  ],
  "word": "tin-pot"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English compound adjectives",
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English exocentric compounds",
    "English informal terms",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncomparable adjectives",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Bulgarian translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "tin-pot dictator"
    },
    {
      "word": "tin-pot dictatorship"
    },
    {
      "word": "TPLAC"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "tin",
        "3": "pot",
        "notext": "1",
        "type": "exocentric"
      },
      "expansion": "tin + pot",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From tin + pot, referring to the cheapness and poor quality of pots made from tin or tin plate.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "tin-pot (not comparable)",
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        "3": "informal"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
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    {
      "word": "tin-foil"
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    {
      "word": "tin plate"
    }
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  "senses": [
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I:",
          "text": "It was a great comfort to turn from that chap to my influential friend, the battered, twisted, ruined, tin-pot steamboat.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of inferior quality; shoddy."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "inferior",
          "inferior#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "quality",
          "quality#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "shoddy",
          "shoddy#Adjective"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
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          "word": "low-quality"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "informal",
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1980 March 3, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “The Official Visit”, in Yes, Minister, season 1, episode 2, spoken by Jim Hacker and Humphrey Appleby (Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne):",
          "text": "Jim Hacker: Why are we having an official visit from this tin-pot little African country? / Sir Humphrey Appleby: Minister, I beg of you not to refer to it as a tin-pot little African country. It's an LDC.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Insignificant or minor, especially in an amusing and petty manner."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Insignificant",
          "insignificant"
        ],
        [
          "minor",
          "minor#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "amusing",
          "amusing#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "petty",
          "petty#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "manner",
          "manner#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "insignificant"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "informal",
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "ipa": "/ˈtɪnpɒt/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈtɪnˌpɑt/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-us-tin-pot.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a4/En-us-tin-pot.ogg/En-us-tin-pot.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/En-us-tin-pot.ogg"
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/En-au-tin-pot.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "tinpot"
    },
    {
      "word": "tin pot"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "evtin",
      "sense": "of inferior quality; shoddy",
      "word": "евтин"
    },
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "dolnokačestven",
      "sense": "of inferior quality; shoddy",
      "word": "долнокачествен"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "of inferior quality; shoddy",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "lichy"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "of inferior quality; shoddy",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "nędzny"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "of inferior quality; shoddy",
      "word": "de pacotilla"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tin-pot"
}

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    "English compound adjectives",
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English exocentric compounds",
    "English informal terms",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncomparable adjectives",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Bulgarian translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations"
  ],
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      "expansion": "tin + pot",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From tin + pot, referring to the cheapness and poor quality of pots made from tin or tin plate.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "tin-pots",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "tin-pot (plural tin-pots)",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A tin-pot dictator."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "tin-pot dictator",
          "tin-pot dictator"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈtɪnpɒt/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈtɪnˌpɑt/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/En-au-tin-pot.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tin-pot"
}

Download raw JSONL data for tin-pot meaning in English (5.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-13 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (4ba5975 and 4ed51a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.