lip service

noun

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

   He paid only lip service to the dictator.

lip service

noun

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

lip service

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.”

Other Word Forms

• lip server noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of lip service¹

First recorded in 1635–45

Idioms and Phrases

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]

Example Sentences

But as Mr. Gottlieb accurately says, today most philosophers do not accept that philosophical problems are merely linguistic confusions and pay no more than lip service to his ideas.

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“Are you paying lip service or is this your intention?” the judge asked.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

There’s lip service to that idea here, but the film doesn’t take itself seriously enough to give us the chills.

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Former Vice President Kamala Harris’s failed presidential campaign promised small change while pledging at least lip service to cutting the deficit.

Read more on Barron's

Not so the state’s other Democratic leaders, who for years have paid lip service to making New York more hospitable for the wealthy and businesses while they do the opposite.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal