lip service

American  

noun

1. insincere expression of friendship, admiration, support, etc.; service by words only.

   He paid only lip service to the dictator.

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lip service British  

noun

1. insincere support or respect expressed but not put into practice

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lip service Cultural  

1. 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.”

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lip service Idioms  

1. Verbal but insincere expression of agreement or support. It is often put as, as in They paid lip service to holding an election next year, but they had no intention of doing so. [Mid-1600s]

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Other Word Forms

• lip server
  noun

Etymology

Origin of lip service

First recorded in 1635–45

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lip service

The two sides played nice in the heady days of 2025, when the midterms were far enough off in the distance and everyone was willing to pay lip service to Piker’s more exotic ideas.

From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2026

Kennedy has paid lip service to the value of the MMR vaccine, which combines immunizations for measles, mumps and rubella.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026

He warned the latest announcement risked being "more lip service".

From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026

Mr. Epstein pays only lip service to the idea that constraints aren’t always beneficial.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026

She still did lip service to the old ways, while herself nibbling away at forbidden fruit.

From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez