window dressing
1
4.4
- noun
- /ˈwɪndoʊ ˈdrɛsɪŋ/
:
decoración de escaparate
- "Window dressing," she muttered.
- just window dressing
Examples
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Creative window dressing can significantly increase foot traffic in retail stores.
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The shop's beautiful window dressing attracted many customers on a busy Saturday.
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What bothers me is when writers use that as an excuse to just do a window-dressing Regency, or what have you.
Blog text (7) -
Please, please stop adding new features, functionalities, and window dressing; get back to the basics and focus on making a functional product for your user base.
Blog text (22) -
She was window dressing.
Fiction book (2001) -
Yet what everyone always decides to do when the desire to "refurbish" Trek comes up is keep the window dressing and throw out the philosophical core, the concept of the show.
Blog text (8) -
The window dressing displayed colorful clothes that made the store look inviting.
Antonyms
How Attractive
1
4.4
2
3.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal reading of 'window' + 'dressing' (decorating or arranging a shop window) directly suggests making a display look attractive, so a learner who knows the parts can infer a meaning related to improving appearance. However, the idiomatic extension to a cosmetic or deceptive action that hides problems requires a metaphorical shift from literal display to abstract presentation, so the exact evaluative sense is not fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Window dressing comes from shops where people 'dress' the window and the word dressing meant arranging goods and decorations on display to attract customers, so it means the shop display that makes the store look attractive.