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
• gloss
• veneer

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

Real estate off-track isn’t frothy if indistinct window dressing — no Donk. —Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 4 Apr. 2025

But efforts must be real and substantive, not just window dressing. —Matthew Phillips, Forbes.com, 3 Apr. 2025

Some skeptics suggested that corporate statements about racial justice were just window dressing. —Donald T. Tomaskovic-Devey, The Conversation, 28 Mar. 2025

It has long been said that India runs cricket with an iron fist and that figureheads such as Barclay are merely window dressing. —Tristan Lavalette, Forbes, 15 Mar. 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