Word.ws English Dictionary

good tsar, bad boyars

good tsar, bad boyars phrase: an ideology that attributes good outcomes to the tsar, and bad outcomes to his inferior ministers (boyars).

Phrase

good tsar, bad boyars

  1. (Russian, historical) an ideology that attributes good outcomes to the tsar, and bad outcomes to his inferior ministers (boyars).
    Synonyms:
    naïve monarchism
  2. (figuratively) used to criticize situations in which high-ranking authorities disclaim responsibility for their policies and activities

Synonyms of good tsar, bad boyars

  • naïve monarchism

Origin of good tsar, bad boyars

Compare if only the tsar knew, German wenn das der Führer wüsste. Suggests that, if only the tsar were aware of the injustices of his bad boyars, he would immediately rectify the problems.

Questions about good tsar, bad boyars

What does good tsar, bad boyars mean?
Good tsar, bad boyars means an ideology that attributes good outcomes to the tsar, and bad outcomes to his inferior ministers (boyars).
What part of speech is good tsar, bad boyars?
Good tsar, bad boyars is a phrase.

Words near good tsar, bad boyars in the dictionary

  1. good time girls
  2. good times
  3. good to go
  4. good trouble
  5. good try
  6. good tsar, bad boyars
  7. good turn
  8. good turns
  9. good value
  10. good values
  11. good voice to beg bacon

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: good tsar, bad boyars (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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