The manager paid lip service to our concerns.
lip service
idiomPromising but empty talk; words without action or intention.
Origin
first recorded 16th c.First use appears c. 1590, in A Treatise against Witchcraft by Henry Holland. Compare earlier lip-labour.
The company pays lip service to environmental issues but never actually recycles anything.
Politicians often pay lip service to reform while quietly protecting the interests that fund their campaigns.
- 01
bite one's lip
To forcibly prevent oneself from speaking, especially in order to avoid saying something inappropriate or likely to cause a dispute.
- 02
button one's lip
To remain silent, especially in order to keep a secret or to avoid saying something inappropriate.
- 03
fat lip
A swelling on the lip, especially one resulting from a punch or other blow.
- 04
give lip
To speak to someone rudely or without respect.
- 05
loose lip
The practice or characteristic of being overly talkative, especially with respect to inadvertently revealing information which is private or confidential.
- 06
press into service
To make someone perform a task or duty, especially one they are not prepared or willing to do; to make something serve a function, especially one it was not designed or intended for.
- 07
shoot from the lip
To speak confidently and unhesitantly but without careful forethought or a reliable knowledge of important facts pertaining to the subject matter.
- 08
stiff upper lip
The quality of being resolute and showing self-restraint, stereotypically associated with the British; especially as keep a stiff upper lip.