window dressing

1 of 2

noun

1

: the display of merchandise in a retail store window

2

a

: the act or an instance of making something appear deceptively attractive or favorable

b

: something used to create a deceptively favorable or attractive impression

window-dress

ˈwin-dō-ˌdres 

transitive verb

window dresser noun

window-dress

2 of 2

transitive verb

: to make appear more attractive or more favorable

may be necessary to window-dress … an offering of bonds

—Scientific American

Synonyms of window dressing

Noun

• facade

Examples of window dressing in a Sentence

Noun

These changes are being made for a good reason. They're not just window dressing.

the crime-does-not-pay moralizing is just window dressing for nasty hard-boiled stories

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

But all of that will just be window dressing. —Matthew Fairburn, New York Times, 11 June 2026

Everyone else is window dressing. —Literary Hub, 21 May 2026

Those side-story quests are always guaranteed to be different narrative window dressings on time trials. —Adam Ismail, The Drive, 14 May 2026

The adaptation retains traces of its literary roots—there are multiple nods to Nabokov, including a bakery named after Charlotte Haze, Lolita’s mother—but its bookishness is mostly window dressing. —Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 5 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Transitive verb

back-formation from window dresser

First Known Use

Noun

1850, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for window dressing

• acquiescing
• coalescing
• convalescing
• dispossessing
• prepossessing
• reassessing
• accessing
• addressing
• assessing
• caressing
• compressing
• confessing