window dressing

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR window dressing ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the art, act, or technique of trimming the display windows of a store.

misrepresentation of something, so as to give a favorable impression: The company's list of assets included a great deal of window dressing.

Origin of window dressing

First recorded in 1780–90

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for window-dressing

lid, canvas, sheet, mask, screen, cap, envelope, roof, jacket, front, umbrella, dress, top, tent, parade, show, pretension, spectacle, affectation, array

Examples from the Web for window-dressing

Contemporary Examples of window-dressing

This time the crime story is just window-dressing for a meditation on a father-son relationship.
Michael Connelly's Book Picks
Michael Connelly
June 2, 2009

Historical Examples of window-dressing

I realize that the question was window-dressing, but my answer is quite serious.
The Syndic
C.M. Kornbluth
On window-dressing days he was up and down the street half the morning.
Mrs. Thompson
William Babington Maxwell
The event in the airport at Salonika and the attack on the convoy were window-dressing.
The Invaders
William Fitzgerald Jenkins
It may be part of our commercial gift for window-dressing, for putting up a good front.
Atlantic Classics
Various
Then they turned to the shop windows, and considered the window-dressing art as displayed by these Brighton tradesmen.
Mrs. Thompson
William Babington Maxwell

British Dictionary definitions for window-dressing

window-dressing

noun

the ornamentation of shop windows, designed to attract customers

the pleasant, showy, or false aspect of an idea, policy, etc, which is stressed to conceal the real or unpleasant nature; façade

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012