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for show

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for show

Done merely for the sake of appearance; not genuine or sincere. Edward always carries a lot of highly literary books around with him, but it's all for show so he can appear smarter to other people. The items in the window are just for show, so I'm afraid I can't sell them to you.

See also: show

for show

For the sake of appearances or display. For example, They put on a lavish buffet, mainly for show, or The police pretended to jail the informer, for show. [c. 1700]

See also: show