🗓️ Idiom: Pay Lip Service (v)
💬 Meaning
- To express support or agreement without taking real action
- To say the right words but not follow through sincerely
🧠 Example Sentences
- The company pays lip service to environmental regulations but still dumps waste illegally.
- Management claimed to care about workplace safety, but it felt like they were just paying lip service.
- Some organisations pay lip service to diversity without making meaningful changes.
🏛️ Origin
This idiom comes from the idea of using only your lips—speaking supportive words without engaging the mind or heart. It suggests that someone is pretending to support an idea, often to avoid criticism, without real intention to act.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
The new policy looks good on paper, but they’re just __________ to it without enforcing anything.
Answer
paying lip service
2. Choose the correct meaning of “pay lip service”:
A) To take full responsibility for an action
B) To give fake or shallow support
C) To follow all rules carefully
Answer
B) To give fake or shallow support
3. Change the sentence using “pay lip service”:
“The company talks about ethics, but they don’t actually change how they operate.”
Answer
The company only pays lip service to ethics.
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