window-shop
Americanverb (used without object)
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window-shops,
present (3rd person singular)
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window-shopped,
past participle, past
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window-shopping
present participle
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to look at articles in the windows of stores without making any purchases.
-
to examine or evaluate merchandise for possible purchase, use, etc..
Russian delegations are window-shopping in European factories.
verb (used with object)
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window-shops,
present (3rd person singular)
-
window-shopped,
past participle, past
-
window-shopping
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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window-shopsimple
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window-shopssimple
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have window-shoppedperfect
-
has window-shoppedperfect
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am window-shoppingprogressive
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are window-shoppingprogressive
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is window-shoppingprogressive
-
have been window-shoppingperfect progressive
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has been window-shoppingperfect progressive
Past
-
window-shoppedsimple
-
had window-shoppedperfect
-
was window-shoppingprogressive
-
were window-shoppingprogressive
-
had been window-shoppingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of window-shop
First recorded in 1925–30
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
There are many great deals to be had today, especially if you enjoy a variety of options to browse and online window-shop.
From The Verge ● Oct. 14, 2021
Customers can window-shop now ahead of the open enrollment, which begins Tuesday and ends Jan. 31.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 30, 2016
It was the place to go if you needed “Munsters” action figures or rocket-shaped water guns, but it closed in 2010, denying retro-minded cineastes a place to window-shop before a screening.
From New York Times ● Feb. 6, 2014
"It's a result of more and more technology in the hands of the consumer, which allows them to virtually window-shop," he said.
From Reuters ● Jan. 8, 2014
She took long bus rides to faraway department stores and supermarkets where she’d window-shop for hours and spend fifty cents.
From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride
A woman window-shops in Buenos Aires on Jan. 27.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 22, 2014
Bored, Dot window-shops on Eddie's forty-a-week, but Eddie refuses to buy furniture "on time."
From Time Magazine Archive
She loves the small, poky stores, and she window-shops, running in place.
From Time Magazine Archive
In his self-appointed role as the omninventoried merchant prince, Marcus window-shops Europe with his camera in search of ideas, on one trip spotted a French silk housecoat that he copied this year in chinchilla.
From Time Magazine Archive
While others window-shopped for inspiration he was his own adman, pushing imagery that would become as recognizable as any logo dreamt up by a Madison Avenue firm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
To tide us over, my fiancée and I window-shopped for dogs online.
From Slate ● Apr. 2, 2020
I window-shopped Scandinavian decor, homemade apothecary products and jewelry before grabbing a cup of java at Global Coffee and relaxing in the warehouse-style communal space.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 13, 2019
As we window-shopped and gallery-hopped, we kept marveling at Hudson’s architecture.
From New York Times ● Jul. 27, 2016
With three hours to kill until bus time, I walked and window-shopped on Canal.
From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin
"I love that you can just walk in and sort of experience it from the street," said Agata Seferynska, a Polish student who came window-shopping with a friend.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2025
Twitter was a shopping mall to the rest of the internet, but it was a mall known more for window-shopping than for actual purchasing.
From Slate ● Nov. 26, 2024
“Everybody is kind of in window-shopping behavior right now,” says Bre Clinton, an assistant manager for the Body Shop at Baybrook Mall.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 24, 2023
Most of my window-shopping nowadays is conducted online, where book covers are reduced to flat, rectangular images that are merely elements on a page.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2023
For half an hour they sat comfortably in their chairs and watched men and women walking, witnessed one dog fight, cruised slowly up and down, looking into windows of homes, window-shopping in the business section.
From Empire by Clifford D. Simak
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
