How to Use window dressing in a Sentence

window dressing

noun
  • These changes are being made for a good reason. They're not just window dressing.
  • But all of that will just be window dressing.
    — Matthew Fairburn, New York Times, 11 June 2026
  • In a way, all the blood and the guts and gore and stuff is the window dressing.
    — Nojan Aminosharei, Men's Health, 24 June 2022
  • His risks here yield huge returns; the rest is window dressing.
    — Stefanie Fernández, Rolling Stone, 24 Mar. 2023
  • Events like these aren’t window dressing—they’re deal flow engines.
    — Sindhya Valloppillil, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
  • All and all, the agreement looks to be little more than window dressing.
    — Sam Goodman, WSJ, 1 Sep. 2022
  • All this was window dressing for the more massive long-range attack that was to come this week.
    — Seth J. Frantzman, National Review, 17 Sep. 2019
  • When window dressing takes away from that central conceit, what’s the point?
    — Helen Carefoot, Flow Space, 9 Dec. 2025
  • That’s when people see what’s real and what’s window dressing.
    — Ann Kowal Smith, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2023
  • Avengers is that the IP was just window dressing for the gameplay.
    — Brittany Vincent, BGR, 25 Oct. 2021
  • The question now is whether all the measures are anything more than window dressing.
    — Scott Johnson, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Oct. 2022
  • That one-percenter healthy living also comes with its fair share of window dressing.
    — Deborah Vankin, Los Angeles Times, 8 Aug. 2024
  • What are some changes that could really make a difference and what is just window dressing?
    — Jennifer Maloney, WSJ, 15 May 2021
  • Having three wide receivers on the field wasn’t even window dressing for the Packers.
    — Brad Biggs, Chicago Tribune, 19 Sep. 2022
  • According to her, these items are all just social media window dressing.
    — Eliza Huber, refinery29.com, 3 June 2021
  • Quarter-end window dressing might have been a factor as active managers need to show their top ten holdings.
    — Brendan Ahern, Forbes, 30 Sep. 2021
  • And the clean grill marks etched across chicken breast painted with chipotle and cilantro sauces were just window dressing for meat that came out dry and stringy.
    — Mike Sutter, ExpressNews.com, 22 Aug. 2019
  • Sark’s also been really good at that – window dressing, run the same plays, comes in a different way.
    — Creg Stephenson | [email protected], al, 9 Sep. 2023
  • Whether inside posh beachside resorts or cool urban havens, these stores are not merely window dressing.
    — Maya Kachroo-Levine, Travel + Leisure, 14 Sep. 2025
  • The scenarios were nothing more than window dressing—meant to evoke the chaotic night raids that would be our mission downrange.
    — Will MacKin, New Yorker, 28 June 2026
  • Skeptics may claim this as window dressing for strategic global ambitions.
    — Kerry E. Ratigan, The Conversation, 15 Jan. 2026
  • Everyone else is window dressing.
    — Literary Hub, 21 May 2026
  • The decorative details on the main house depict faux columns and window dressing.
    — Lauren Beale, Forbes, 15 Nov. 2021
  • The taxonomy of the projects, their construction and placement, is so much window dressing.
    — Sydette Harry, Wired, 11 Jan. 2021
  • Many companies focus on window dressing instead of strategies that are right for them—both in terms of requirements and scale.
    — Eddy Azad, Forbes, 4 May 2023
  • The kids on the street and the sidewalks are merely window dressing for the real head-to-head struggle that is taking place among the amazing machines called cars.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 3 Sep. 2021
  • Alabama’s ground attack served as little more than window dressing in its past four games against SEC foes.
    — Blake Toppmeyer, USA TODAY, 13 Dec. 2021
  • Steichen and his staff took the best option plays from all levels of football and mixed them with NFL window dressing.
    — Ted Nguyen, The Athletic, 22 Aug. 2024
  • All that stuff in the film’s early scenes about Blake’s relationship with his dad, his daughter, and his wife wind up feeling like window dressing.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 15 Jan. 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

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'window dressing.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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