window-shop

[ win-doh-shop ]

/ ˈwɪn doʊˌʃɒp /

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See synonyms for: window-shopper on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object), win·dow-shopped, win·dow-shop·ping.

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), win·dow-shopped, win·dow-shop·ping.

to look at (merchandise) in the windows of stores without making any purchases: to window-shop shoes.

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Origin of window-shop

First recorded in 1925–30

OTHER WORDS FROM window-shop

window-shopper, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use window-shop in a sentence

The interior video shows the gunman firing the shot through the window.
Shot Down During the NYPD Slowdown|Michael Daly|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
I fall back into a dream and then suddenly there is a tapping on the window just above my bed.
The Story Behind Lee Marvin’s Liberty Valance Smile|Robert Ward|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In fact, these kinds of advances helped give religion another huge window of opportunity for racial reconciliation in the 1960s.
No Gods, No Cops, No Masters|James Poulos|January 1, 2015|DAILY BEAST
As it was, The Affair ended its first season last night with me contemplating hurling my television out of the window.
What On Earth Is ‘The Affair’ About? Season One’s Baffling Finale|Tim Teeman|December 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST

The younger man rolled down his window to receive the approaching Williams “to see what he wanted.”
Exposed: The Gay-Bashing Pastor’s Same-Sex Assault|M.L. Nestel|December 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But at the instant I caught a sight of my counterfeit presentment in a shop window, and veiled my haughty crest.
God and my Neighbour|Robert Blatchford
She had listened—she had listened intently, looking straight out of the window and without moving.
Confidence|Henry James
The east window in this church has been classed as the A1 of modern painted windows.
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham|Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell
The clerks had not arrived yet, and he beguiled the time by looking out of the staircase window.
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, v. 2(of 2)|Charles Dickens
As the window dropped, Ripperda saw the wounded postilion fall on the neck of his horse.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4|Jane Porter

British Dictionary definitions for window-shop

window-shop

verb -shops, -shopping or -shopped

(intr) to look at goods in shop windows without buying them

Derived forms of window-shop

window-shopper, nounwindow-shopping, noun

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