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

She has continued López Obrador’s practice of daily morning news conferences, where she often pays lip service to the former president and repeats his signature phrase: “For the good of all, the poor first.”

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Speaking ahead of a meeting of EU ministers on Tuesday, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Russia's continued attacks "speak louder than the lip service we have heard for so long".

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You’ll often hear contemporary Democrats give lip service to framing issues in terns of values, and some certainly do so.

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While the academies’ peer institutions have been criticized by Trump administration officials for giving lip service to the free flow of ideas and information, none have been subjected to such blatant censorship—not yet.

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One of the local TV news reports summed up a theme of the demonstration this way: “Democratic Party has been paying lip service to the working class.”

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