jive
Americannoun
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swing music or early jazz.
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the jargon associated with swing music and early jazz.
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Slang. deceptive, exaggerated, or meaningless talk.
Don't give me any of that jive!
verb (used without object)
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to play jive.
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to dance to jive; jitterbug.
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Slang. to engage in kidding, teasing, or exaggeration.
verb (used with object)
adjective
noun
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a style of lively and jerky dance performed to jazz and, later, to rock and roll, popular esp in the 1940s and 1950s
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Also called: jive talk. a variety of American slang spoken chiefly by Black people, esp jazz musicians
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slang deliberately misleading or deceptive talk
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( as modifier )
jive talk
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verb
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(intr) to dance the jive
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slang to mislead; tell lies (to)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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jivesimple
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jivessimple
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have jivedperfect
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has jivedperfect
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am jivingprogressive
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are jivingprogressive
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is jivingprogressive
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have been jivingperfect progressive
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has been jivingperfect progressive
Past
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jivedsimple
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had jivedperfect
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was jivingprogressive
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were jivingprogressive
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had been jivingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of jive
First recorded in 1925–30; origin obscure; alleged to be an alteration of gibe 1, though the shift in sense and phonetic change are unexplained
Explanation
Jive is a lively type of music that first became popular in the 1930s. If you’ve seen movies with people wearing 1930s clothing fast dancing and spinning around, chances are they’re dancing to jive music. You can listen to jive or you can jive, because the word is both a noun and a verb. When you jive, be prepared to do a lot of spinning and swinging. It's often done to a style of big band music called "swing," because the dancers hold hands and swing each other around. Jive also means glib, fancy talk. If you're bragging about things you didn't even do, someone might tell you to quit your jive.
Vocabulary lists containing jive
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:
Cantrell says he’s experimenting with “vibe coding External link,” which I hear a lot, and sometimes mistakenly call jive coding, which works, too.
From Barron's ● Feb. 13, 2026
Back in the actual 1990s, ice dancers cycled through traditional dances: samba, blues, polka, rumba, quickstep, tango, jive, paso doble, Viennese waltz.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026
In the same compilation, Carson explained that a jive is difficult for a first dance and praised Irwin’s positivity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2025
But the couple still enjoy dancing, and have worked together to choreograph a new jive routine inspired by dogs, capturing their spirit at their favourite time of day - dinner time.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2024
Kids are still saying how jive I am for squealing on Char.
From "The Skin I'm In" by Sharon G. Flake
Standard time, the group argues, better jives with the movement of the sun and the circadian rhythm, or body clock, of human beings.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 11, 2023
By checking in on irrigation systems and soil wetness, especially during the early transplant/growing days, you'll work out a routine that jives for your specific plan.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2022
“There is a rapaciousness in the air, bordering on the obscene, as the city contorts, bends, shucks and jives to become whatever version of itself will bring about the largest turn of profit,” she wrote.
From New York Times ● Mar. 4, 2020
My version is perfectly suited for families and jives with the sheet-pan cooking method popular today.
From Washington Post ● May 2, 2019
So now my jives are off: pray Heaven he be here!
From Beaumont & Fletcher's Works (2 of 10) - the Humourous Lieutenant by Beaumont, Francis
There were also celebrations for DIY SOS star Nick Knowles, who jived with Luba Mushtuk to We Built This City by Starship on his 62nd birthday.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2024
Everything is flat and framed in medium shots, missing the dark cityscape aesthetic of the first film, which jived with the ethos of modern mythology.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2023
If someone came to me and was like, you could do this cool thing for Netflix or whatever and it really jived with my life, I would do it, but I don’t know.
From The Verge ● Aug. 24, 2021
“I figured new league, some of the teams might not have jived yet, so I thought it was a good idea to take all the unders.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 13, 2019
They jostled and jammed and high-fived and jived.
From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli
In Tenebaum’s hands he’s a mix of James Brown, Little Richard and the jiving genie in “Aladdin.”
From Seattle Times ● May 26, 2017
The young guard Irving can call to mind a young Earl Monroe, a nervous breakdown collection of jiving sidesteps and spins and jukes.
From New York Times ● Jun. 3, 2016
The dead were dancing, jiving when Biggar gave them lead with a penalty from halfway after Brown had held on after a tackle.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 26, 2015
Another jazz star, trumpeter Roy Eldridge, told Esquire magazine in 1961, “I think he’s jiving, baby.”
From Washington Post ● Jun. 11, 2015
She drags me onto the dance floor, jiving and snapping her fingers.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
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.
