boxing to practise blows and footwork against an imaginary opponent
to act or speak unconvincingly, without saying what one means, etc
he's just shadow-boxing
First recorded in 1905–10
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
All the while, Ryder continued to shadow box and wait patiently.
From BBC • May 7, 2023
The shop now displays Edwards’s neatly folded navy-blue work uniform, “The Pen Doctor” embroidered on its front, in a shadow box by his repair bench.
From Washington Post • Mar. 14, 2023
The photos sit in a sort of shadow box with the glass covering looking almost as if it has been pressed outward and fractured.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 18, 2022
In an upstairs office, they keep a shadow box filled with ribbons and articles, highlighted by a July 2012 Swimming World Magazine profile with a smiling Marciano, braces and all.
From New York Times • Aug. 18, 2021
A prominent aid to my artistic whims came to me by way of my father's love and craftsmanship; he spent hours of his spare time constructing a shadow box for miniature arrangements.
From Through these Eyes The courageous struggle to find meaning in a life stressed with cancer by Isaacson, Lauren Ann
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.
