lip service
insincere expression of friendship, admiration, support, etc.; service by words only: He paid only lip service to the dictator.
Origin of lip service
1Other words from lip service
- lip server, noun
Words Nearby lip service
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use lip service in a sentence
Some of this is clearly marketing lip service, and far greater regulatory efforts are needed to help nudge consumers into more sustainable choices, and place checks on a slow-moving industry that contributes heavily to climate change.
We thought people kind of paid lip service to it, but apparently it’s very important to them.
The Pandemic Remade Every Corner of Society. Now It's the Climate's Turn | Justin Worland | April 15, 2021 | TimeThe influencer equity gap contrasts with the lip service that so many marketers have paid to diversity, equity and inclusion in the past year.
Indeed, for many years — with a few notable exceptions — marketers paid lip service to doing their bit.
Why ethical dilemmas are putting brands and their media buying in the spotlight | Seb Joseph | January 21, 2021 | DigidayThe question is whether companies are just paying lip service to the idea of doing good.
As always, its leaders paid lip service to lofty ideals to obscure the ugly base alloys.
A Brief History of Wingnuts in America; From George Washington to Woodstock | John Avlon | August 17, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe missus and the kids pay intermittent lip service to living on a farm.
What Did TJ Mean By “Pursuit of Happiness,” Anyway? | P. J. O’Rourke | June 8, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST“Non-apology”, “disingenuous” and “lip service” were a few of the choice words expressed.
OkCupid Keeps Up Its Firefox Boycott for CEO’s Anti-Gay Stance | Gregory Ferenstein | April 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAs Democrats we need to speak much more boldly about how we address inequality and not just pay lip service to these ideas.
It’s Matt Miller Time! Longtime Radio Host Runs for Congress | David Freedlander | February 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTPeople have been paying lip-service to globalization and the blahblahblah.
You Should Have Been There: Dispatches From Miami Art Basel | Anthony Haden-Guest | December 8, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTAt this poem Mary professed herself delighted; for she was long past blushing at lip service.
God Wills It! | William Stearns DavisHow far—and this was more vital—are they rendering lip-service to social organisations?
The New Machiavelli | Herbert George WellsOfttimes a good frown to an unwise friend is all that is necessary to stop this "lip service" flattery.
The Mother and Her Child | William S. SadlerSince it was their show and their property, I couldn't see any reason why they made this odd lip-service to politeness.
Highways in Hiding | George Oliver SmithGerman statesmen may protest about their love of peace, but the service they render to peace is only lip service.
German Problems and Personalities | Charles Sarolea
British Dictionary definitions for lip service
insincere support or respect expressed but not put into practice
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for lip service
Insincere agreement; to “pay lip service” is to consent in one's words while dissenting in one's heart: “The boss's support of affirmative action was merely paying lip service; he never committed himself to it in any substantial way.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Other Idioms and Phrases with lip service
Verbal but insincere expression of agreement or support. It is often put as pay or give lip service, as in They paid lip service to holding an election next year, but they had no intention of doing so. [Mid-1600s]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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