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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Nearby words
- lip microphone,
- lip molding,
- lip out,
- lip reading,
- lip reflex,
- lip-,
- lip-lock,
- lip-read,
- lip-reading,
- lip-sync
Origin of lip service
First recorded in 1635–45
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for lip service
lip service
noun
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
lip service
"something proffered but not performed," 1640s, from lip (n.) + service (n.1). Earlier in same sense was lip-labour (1530s).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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.
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.