Definition of "window dressing" [window dressing]

• The decorative display of retail merchandise in store windows (noun)
• The goods and trimmings used in such display (noun)
• A means of creating a deceptively favourable impression of something or someone; something for appearance only. (noun)

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• "Fiscal reforms like budget cuts, sound-money policies, and the launch of the bank were “the proper work of a financial administrator,” he conceded, but were just the window dressing for Morris’s “larger goal of recasting the structure of the Union.”"