for show
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
done to impress others, not for actual use
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
để gây ấn tượng với người khác, không phải để sử dụng thực sự
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: for display
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The flowers were there for show, not for the actual ceremony
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “for show” mean?
done to impress others, not for actual use Literally: for display
Is “for show” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.