lip service
noun
insincere expression of friendship, admiration, support, etc.; service by words only: He paid only lip service to the dictator.
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Origin of lip service
First recorded in 1635–45
OTHER WORDS FROM lip service
lip server, nounWords nearby lip service
lipread, lipreading, lip reflex, Lipschitz condition, Lipscomb, lip service, lipstick, lipstick lesbian, lipstick plant, lip-sync, lip-synch
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
Example sentences from the Web for lip service
British Dictionary definitions for lip service
lip service
noun
insincere support or respect expressed but not put into practice
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for lip service
lip service
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.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Idioms and Phrases with lip service
lip service
Verbal but insincere expression of agreement or support. It is often put as pay or give lip service, as in They paid lip service to holding an election next year, but they had no intention of doing so. [Mid-1600s]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.