"for show" meaning in English

See for show in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Prepositional phrase

Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-for show.wav
Head templates: {{head|en|prepositional phrase|head=}} for show, {{en-prep phrase}} for show
  1. (idiomatic) intended to be seen but not bought or used; aesthetic as opposed to practical. Tags: idiomatic
    Sense id: en-for_show-en-prep_phrase-GHi2PbEK
  2. (idiomatic) done in an insincere or affected manner in order to impress others. Tags: idiomatic Translations (Translations): per espectacle (Catalan), pour la galerie (French), per impressionare (Italian), dla bajeru (Polish), para bonito [colloquial] (Portuguese), por exibição (Portuguese), para impresionar (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-for_show-en-prep_phrase-Xpo8OfIw Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Catalan translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Portuguese translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 9 91 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 10 90 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 7 93 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 5 95 Disambiguation of Terms with Catalan translations: 27 73 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 15 85 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 11 89 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 27 73 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 26 74 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 11 89 Disambiguation of 'Translations': 6 94
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  "lang_code": "en",
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          "text": "Wealthy Nauruans spent their abundant money on cars that were for show.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2024, Teacher Tommy T, What did I miss? 🤣 #schoolmemes #school #teacher #schoolmemories #teaching #schooldays #students:",
          "text": "Guys, get down from the climbing frames! They're just there for show!",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
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        "intended to be seen but not bought or used; aesthetic as opposed to practical."
      ],
      "id": "en-for_show-en-prep_phrase-GHi2PbEK",
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        "(idiomatic) intended to be seen but not bought or used; aesthetic as opposed to practical."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "9 91",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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        "done in an insincere or affected manner in order to impress others."
      ],
      "id": "en-for_show-en-prep_phrase-Xpo8OfIw",
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          "insincere",
          "insincere"
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          "affected",
          "affected"
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          "impress",
          "impress"
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) done in an insincere or affected manner in order to impress others."
      ],
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        "idiomatic"
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        {
          "_dis1": "6 94",
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "per espectacle"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "6 94",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "pour la galerie"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "6 94",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "per impressionare"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "6 94",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "dla bajeru"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "6 94",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "colloquial"
          ],
          "word": "para bonito"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "6 94",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "por exibição"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "6 94",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "para impresionar"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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  "word": "for show"
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          "type": "example"
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        {
          "ref": "2024, Teacher Tommy T, What did I miss? 🤣 #schoolmemes #school #teacher #schoolmemories #teaching #schooldays #students:",
          "text": "Guys, get down from the climbing frames! They're just there for show!",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "intended to be seen but not bought or used; aesthetic as opposed to practical."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) intended to be seen but not bought or used; aesthetic as opposed to practical."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
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      "categories": [
        "English idioms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "done in an insincere or affected manner in order to impress others."
      ],
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          "insincere",
          "insincere"
        ],
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          "affected",
          "affected"
        ],
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          "impress",
          "impress"
        ]
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        "(idiomatic) done in an insincere or affected manner in order to impress others."
      ],
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        "idiomatic"
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    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "per espectacle"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "pour la galerie"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "per impressionare"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "dla bajeru"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ],
      "word": "para bonito"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "por exibição"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "para impresionar"
    }
  ],
  "word": "for show"
}

Download raw JSONL data for for show meaning in English (2.8kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (c15a5ce and 5c11237). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.