Meaning & use
lip service
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountabledisapproving
Words of support for an idea or cause that the speaker does not truly mean or act on.
Grammar: No plural and no 'a': they paid lip service, not 'a lip service'.
Patterns
- pay lip service to something
- give lip service to something
The board pays lip service to diversity but hires the same kind of people each time.
Many politicians give lip service to the environment before elections.
His promises were nothing more than lip service.
Common combinations
- pay lip service to
- The manager paid lip service to our concerns and then ignored them.
- mere lip service
- Their apology was mere lip service.
- give lip service to
- Schools often give lip service to creativity.
- nothing but lip service
- Their support turned out to be nothing but lip service.
- just lip service
- Is this policy real, or just lip service?
Synonyms and how they differ
- empty words
- Empty words is a plain phrase for talk without action, while lip service points specifically to pretending to support something.
- tokenism
- Tokenism is about a small symbolic gesture, usually of inclusion, rather than spoken agreement.
- hypocrisy
- Hypocrisy is a stronger charge that covers acting against what one claims, not merely failing to act.
- window dressing
- Window dressing is a display meant to create a good impression, not necessarily words.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: lip service or lip-reading?
lip service vs lip-reading
Lip-reading is understanding speech by watching a speaker's mouth, nothing to do with insincere support.
Practice
Complete the sentence: 'The company ____ lip service to safety, but accidents keep happening.'
Choose one answer.
The set phrase is 'pay lip service to'. The other verbs are not used with this expression.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “lip service”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.