gibe
1 Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
verb (used with or without object)
verb
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of gibe
First recorded before 1560–70; perhaps from Middle French giber “to handle roughly, shake,” derivative of gibe “staff, billhook”
Explanation
"Loser! Bonehead!" the kids shouted, tossing those words and other gibes at the people who offered themselves up to the annual humiliation of the harvest-fest dunk-tank. A gibe is an insulting comment. To gibe is to insult. Gibe can be a noun or a verb, but it’s usually a noun meaning an insult, a dis, something to be hurled at enemies, bad drivers, or ex-boyfriends. Gibe is sometimes spelled jibe, but that word has a different meaning and is usually a verb. Keep the g in gibe when referring to the mean words you utter at people who have done you wrong.
Vocabulary lists containing gibe
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Ask Europeans to describe American culture and you’ll eventually hear some version of gibe about our lack of irony: “Americans take everything literally.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
One recalls Talleyrand’s famous gibe at Napoleon for executing the Duke of Enghien in 1804: “It’s worse than a crime; it’s a mistake.”
From Slate ● Apr. 8, 2026
The gibe blew Quayle off the debate stage; then, just a few weeks later, Republicans won the White House in a landslide.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2024
Saget then immediately changed his mind, almost as if he recognized that the humanity of this thought outpaced the fun of his gibe.
From New York Times ● Jan. 21, 2022
Johnny had seen enough of Madge and Dorcas and their suitors to know that the gibe about poor boys aspiring to Miss Lavinia had gone home.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
Massie himself gibed to Slate on Saturday that no one is actually voting for Gallrein because almost no one in the district knows him.
From Slate ● May 19, 2026
“Where in the World is LaToya Cantrell?” gibed the cover of Gambit, a lively local news magazine.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 24, 2022
They came speeding back into contention and gibed just ahead of France to take the lead approaching the final gate and the turn to the finish.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 18, 2021
“No kidding!” gibed Susan Rice, a former Barack Obama national security adviser, on Twitter.
From The Guardian ● May 12, 2017
And thereafter she sat upon the bank and cheered us on, and gibed at our raiment; as if the body were not more than raiment.
From The Clammer and the Submarine by William John Hopkins
From the Hill we hear gibing and jeering, All civility fast disappearing.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 2, 2021
The ladies return to France for a year of mourning, promising the lords they will accept their tenders of affection if they undergo a 12-month period of penance for their gibing spirits.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2016
A competitor can flash a little yellow and we all know it’s gibing at Sprint; orange for AT&T; red for Verizon.
From Slate ● Feb. 8, 2016
Feinting and gibing can't obscure those job numbers.
From Time ● Oct. 11, 2010
And his knowledge accumulated slowly, a reference heard in the street, the gibing talk in the pool hall.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
