Trojan horse

noun

Definition of Trojan horsenext
as in Potemkin village

Related Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for Trojan horse
  1. Potemkin village
  2. fig leaf
  3. shield
  4. screen
  5. blind
Noun
  • The Swedish government has come up with some drastically different economic figures on Russia that make the Kremlin’s official data seem like a Potemkin village.
    — Jason Ma, Fortune, 24 May 2026
  • But when Microsoft built the Potemkin village that is Copilot and charged for it, well, no thank you.
    — Jim Cramer, CNBC, 8 Feb. 2026
Definition of Potemkin village
Noun
  • Under the Assad regime, the parliament functioned as a ceremonial fig leaf that served political elites and passed laws that stripped ordinary Syrians of their basic rights.
    — Taylor Luck, Christian Science Monitor, 4 Aug. 2026
  • Consider the crisp, Gimlet-like Mediterrânico, made with sea fennel and eucalyptus, or the Banana Bonanza, a riff on the Negroni with Madeira, banana, coconut butter, and fig leaf.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 3 Aug. 2026
Definition of fig leaf
Noun
  • Swarms of police officers descended from helicopters and beat them with billy clubs and metal shields.
    — E. Tammy Kim, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
  • The jail has issued inmates Android tablets and Englert says some have turned the heat shields into blades.
    — Andy Sheehan, CBS News, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of shield
Noun
  • Two large menu screens behind the counter advertise all sorts of morning goodies.
    — Michael Deeds, Idaho Statesman, 16 Oct. 2026
  • The films, which arrived amid a YA dystopian boom that also saw The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner books making the jump from shelves to screen, originally opened strong at the box office.
    — Lexy Perez, HollywoodReporter, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of screen
Noun
  • The second installation attempt for the large blind was successful.
    — Scott Kramer, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026
  • If that metering proves accurate enough in real-world use, the C100 could be both a fun blind-shooting gadget and a handy companion for film photographers.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of blind
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

troikas
Trojan horse
Trojan horses
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Trojan horse.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/Trojan%20horse. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on Trojan horse

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about Trojan horse

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of compunction

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?
See More

Popular

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
artwork of illustrated limes with the text limes and smile with an arrow connecting the two words
Quiz: Spot the Anagram! Scramble these words to find new words with the e...
See All