window-shop
Americanverb (used without object)
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to look at articles in the windows of stores without making any purchases.
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to examine or evaluate merchandise for possible purchase, use, etc..
Russian delegations are window-shopping in European factories.
verb (used with object)
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
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has window-shoppedperfect
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am window-shoppingprogressive
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are window-shoppingprogressive
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is window-shoppingprogressive
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have been window-shoppingperfect progressive
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has been window-shoppingperfect progressive
Past
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window-shoppedsimple
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had window-shoppedperfect
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was window-shoppingprogressive
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were window-shoppingprogressive
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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'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
Typically, people window-shop more than a dozen times before buying.
From Slate ● Sep. 30, 2013
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
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
Bored, Dot window-shops on Eddie's forty-a-week, but Eddie refuses to buy furniture "on time."
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
Into Provincetown: window-shopped, people-watched and ate sugar-dusted malasadas from the Portuguese bakery.
From New York Times ● Aug. 2, 2013
Julietta read in the airy bookshop, window-shopped thousand-dollar dresses, and tried on makeup in the department store.
From "Genuine Fraud" by E. Lockhart
"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
The three of them moved down sidewalks like window-shopping loiterers looking into every mom and pop store along the way.
From Tokyo to Tijuana: Gabriele Departing America by Sills, Steven (Steven David Justin)
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.
