window-shop

[ win-doh-shop ]

verb (used without object)

, win·dow-shopped, win·dow-shop·ping.

1. to look at articles in the windows of stores without making any purchases.
2. to examine or evaluate merchandise for possible purchase, use, etc.:

   Russian delegations are window-shopping in European factories.

verb (used with object)

, win·dow-shopped, win·dow-shop·ping.

1. to look at (merchandise) in the windows of stores without making any purchases:

   to window-shop shoes.

window-shop

verb

1. intr to look at goods in shop windows without buying them

Derived Forms

• ˈwindow-ˌshopping, noun
• ˈwindow-ˌshopper, noun

Other Words From

• window-shopper noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of window-shop¹

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

“Everybody is kind of in window-shopping behavior right now,” says Bre Clinton, an assistant manager for the Body Shop at Baybrook Mall.

From Seattle Times

Most of my window-shopping nowadays is conducted online, where book covers are reduced to flat, rectangular images that are merely elements on a page.

From Los Angeles Times

One of New York’s best window-shopping weekends is back, as the four-day New York International Antiquarian Book Fair returns on Thursday to the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan.

From New York Times

The most difficult reservation on Worth Avenue, the town’s luxe window-shopping strip, is Le Bilboquet, an outpost of the Upper East Side French-inspired bistro, which opened in Palm Beach in 2021.

From New York Times

Year-round and especially on weekends, visitors clog the narrow sidewalks on Main Street, window-shopping or queuing up for ice cream cones.

From Washington Post