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Definition 2024


window_dressing

window dressing

English

Alternative forms

Noun

window dressing (usually uncountable, plural window dressings)

  1. The decorative display of retail merchandise in store windows
  2. The goods and trimmings used in such display
  3. (idiomatic, uncountable) A means of creating a deceptively favourable impression of something or someone; something for appearance only.
    These latest modifications are mere window dressing, the same problems remain.
    • 2011 December 14, Angelique Chrisafis, “Rachida Dati accuses French PM of sexism and elitism”, in Guardian:
      Meanwhile, the left is deliberately running more ethnically diverse candidates in the parliamentary elections next year, claiming Sarkozy's one-time "rainbow" cabinet of racially diverse women had turned out to be window dressing.

Synonyms