give lip service to (something)

give lip service to (something)
give/pay lip service to (something) to say that you agree with and support an idea or plan but not do anything to help it to succeed.

The company pays lip service to the notion of racial equality but you look around you and all you see are white faces.


New idioms dictionary. 2014.

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  • pay lip service to (something) — give/pay lip service to (something) to say that you agree with and support an idea or plan but not do anything to help it to succeed. The company pays lip service to the notion of racial equality but you look around you and all you see are white… …   New idioms dictionary

  • lip service —    When people pay lip service to something, they express their respect, but they don t act on their words, so the respect is hollow and empty.   (Dorking School Dictionary)    ***    If you pay lip service to an idea or cause, you give verbal… …   English Idioms & idiomatic expressions

  • lip — [ lıp ] noun *** 1. ) count one of the two edges that form the top and bottom parts of your mouth: His thin red lips stretched into a smile. 2. ) count the place on the edge of a glass or container where you pour out liquid: Careful, the lip of… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • service — ser|vice1 W1S1 [ˈsə:vıs US ˈsə:r ] n ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 1¦(official system/organization)¦ 2¦(something provided by a company)¦ 3¦(in a shop/restaurant/hotel)¦ 4¦(work)¦ 5¦(work done for somebody)¦ 6¦(duty)¦ 7¦(being used)¦ 8¦(religious ceremony)¦ 9¦(army)¦ …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • service — 1 noun FOR THE PUBLIC 1 public services (countable often plural) things such as education, hospitals, banks etc that are provided for the public to use: the decline in public services in recent times | the welfare/medical/social etc service… …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • pay — pay1 [ peı ] (present participle paying; past tense and past participle paid [ peıd ] ) verb *** 1. ) intransitive or transitive to give money in order to buy something: pay for: Let me pay for dinner. pay someone for something: Can I pay you for …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • pay */*/*/ — I UK [peɪ] / US verb Word forms pay : present tense I/you/we/they pay he/she/it pays present participle paying past tense paid UK [peɪd] / US past participle paid Get it right: pay: The verb pay is never followed by a direct object that refers to …   English dictionary

  • France — /frans, frahns/; Fr. /frddahonns/, n. 1. Anatole /ann nann tawl /, (Jacques Anatole Thibault), 1844 1924, French novelist and essayist: Nobel prize 1921. 2. a republic in W Europe. 58,470,421; 212,736 sq. mi. (550,985 sq. km). Cap.: Paris. 3.… …   Universalium

  • Germany — /jerr meuh nee/, n. a republic in central Europe: after World War II divided into four zones, British, French, U.S., and Soviet, and in 1949 into East Germany and West Germany; East and West Germany were reunited in 1990. 84,068,216; 137,852 sq.… …   Universalium

  • pay — pay1 W1S1 [peı] v past tense and past participle paid [peıd] ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 1¦(give money)¦ 2¦(bill/tax/rent)¦ 3¦(wage/salary)¦ 4 pay attention (to somebody/something) 5¦(legal cost)¦ 6¦(say something good)¦ 7¦(good result)¦ 8¦(profit)¦ …   Dictionary of contemporary English

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