tin-pot

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The Word of the Day for January 6 is:

tin-pot   \TIN-POT\    adjective 
     : two-bit, small-time

Example sentence:
     Petty despots and tin-pot dictators often pay lip service to democratic 
ideals to give their regimes an aura of legitimacy.

Did you know?
     Tin has never commanded as much respect as some other metals. As a 
reflection of this, its name has long been used in terms denoting the tawdry or 
petty. "Tin-pot" has been used for minor or insignificant things or people 
since the early 1800s. "Tinhorn" has named fakes or frauds (especially 
gamblers) since the 1880s, and "tin lizzie" has been a nickname for an 
inexpensive car since Ford introduced the Model T. Another example is "tin pan" 
(as in "Tin Pan Alley"), which referred to the tinny sound of pianos pounded 
furiously by musicians plugging tunes to producers.