window dressing

noun

1

: the display of merchandise in a retail store window

2

a

: the act or an instance of making something appear deceptively attractive or favorable

b

: something used to create a deceptively favorable or attractive impression

window-dress

ˈwin-dō-ˌdres 

transitive verb

window dresser noun

Synonyms

• facade
• façade

Examples of window dressing in a Sentence

These changes are being made for a good reason. They're not just window dressing.

the crime-does-not-pay moralizing is just window dressing for nasty hard-boiled stories

Recent Examples on the Web

The series is still going strong thanks to numerous sequels and a spinoff, wading into such over-the-top territory that the initial street racing conceit is now little more than window dressing. —Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 18 Aug. 2025

Trappings like solar panels on the Vatican roof and an all-electric Popemobile aren’t just green window dressing. —Mike Burbach, Twin Cities, 15 Aug. 2025

The social codes of bloodless brutality cloaked in plausible deniability aren’t window dressing. —Elle Carroll, Vulture, 11 Aug. 2025

Flagrant violations across diverse policy realms suggested that the order’s commitment to the rule of law was rhetorical window dressing. —Stacie E. Goddard, Foreign Affairs, 28 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1850, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for window dressing

• acquiescing
• coalescing
• convalescing
• dispossessing
• prepossessing
• reassessing
• accessing
• addressing
• assessing
• caressing
• compressing
• confessing