tin-pot

See also: tinpot

English

WOTD – 13 March 2008

From tin +‎ pot,^[1]^[2] referring to the cheapness and poor quality of pots made from tin or tin plate.

tin-pot (not comparable) (figurative, informal)

Of inferior quality; shoddy.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:low-quality
- 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:
  It was a great comfort to turn from that chap to my influential friend, the battered, twisted, ruined, tin-pot steamboat.
Insignificant or minor, especially in an amusing and petty manner.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:insignificant
- 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):
  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.

of inferior quality; shoddy

insignificant or minor, especially in an amusing and petty manner — see insignificant,‎ minor

^ “tin-pot, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
^ “tin-pot, adj.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.