# lip service

Pronunciation: say "LIP sur-vis" US /ˈlɪp ˌsɝvɪs/, UK /ˈlɪp ˌsɜːvɪs/

## Idiom

1. Talk that sounds supportive or promising but is empty, with no action or real intention behind it.
   - Simple: Saying that you support something but doing nothing to help it.
   - _Many companies pay lip service to diversity while their leadership stays exactly the same._
   - _Staff dismissed the new wellness policy as lip service from management._
2. Cunnilingus; oral sex performed on a woman. *(slang)*
   - Simple: Sex in which someone uses their mouth on a woman's private parts.

## Origin

First used c. 1590, in Henry Holland's A Treatise against Witchcraft; compare the earlier lip-labour.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/lip-service (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).