Definition of "window-dressing" []

• Decorative exhibition of retail merchandise in store windows. (noun)
• Goods and trimmings used in such displays. (noun)
• A means of improving appearances or creating a falsely favorable impression: "The realignment ... may be more window dressing than a substantive change in how the company does business” ( Connie Guglielmo). (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The downdraft in Chinese equities also stemmed from so-called "window-dressing" by portfolio managers who often sell stocks with large losses in their funds at year-end."
• "Whereas corporate philanthropic activities may have once been motivated more by image-building and were thus seen as 'window-dressing,' CSR today is more often an integral part of corporate strategy."
• "The law gets applied to the former, often mercilessly and ruthlessly, but the law doesn't apply to the latter, who get off time and again for nothing, next to nothing or by paying a window-dressing fine usually with other people's money."