Definition of JIVE

Jive vs. Jibe

People began confusing jive and jibe almost immediately after jive entered our language in the late 1920s. In particular, jive is often used as a variant for the sense of jibe meaning “agree,” as in “that doesn’t jive with my memory of what happened.” This use of jive, although increasingly common, is widely considered to be an error. Jibe, however, is accepted as a variant spelling of an entirely different word, which is gibe (“to utter taunting words”).

Examples of jive in a Sentence

Noun

She grew up talking street jive. I'm tired of listening to your jive.

Verb

I know he's just jiving me. Don't take him seriously—he's just jiving. Everyone was jiving to the beat.

Adjective

don't give me that jive talk about me being your new best friend

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

The variously slinky and driven choreography features such sidelights as pratfalls, teasingly competitive back-and-forth accents, sassy shoulder shimmies and snappy hand jives. — Robert Greskovic, WSJ, "‘Minimalism and Me’ Review: Twyla Tharp Tells Her Story," 19 Nov. 2018 Dance, jive, have the time of your life by watching below. — Rania Aniftos, Billboard, "'Mamma Mia!' Cast Delivers 'Dancing Queen' Lyric Video: Watch," 11 July 2018 The rockabilly cats and kittens who attend festivals like Viva Las Vegas continue to dig a little Louis Prima jive with their Gene Vincent hiccup and twang. — Kenneth Partridge, Billboard, "In Defense of the Swing Revival: Why America Flipped for '40s Sounds in 1998," 29 May 2018 No jive from Shuck: The journeyman, whose contract was selected before the game from Triple-A New Orleans, made an immediate impact with a stand-up triple to right-center in the second inning off Chad Kuhl. — Craig Davis, Sun-Sentinel.com, "JB Shuck's four hits in Marlins debut aids Dillon Peters to bounce-back win," 14 Apr. 2018 Also collecting 24 points were Terrell Owens for an emotional Viennese waltz, Nikki Bella for a contemporary dance about a comeback from injury, Sasha Pieterse for a foxtrot, Vanessa Lachey for a rumba and Drew Scott for a jive. — Hal Boedeker, OrlandoSentinel.com, "'Dancing With the Stars': Who's out, who wowed," 9 Oct. 2017 Len Goodman called the jive the dance of the season so far, and Carrie Ann Inaba said the routine was one of her favorites in the show’s history. — Hal Boedeker, OrlandoSentinel.com, "'Dancing With the Stars': Where's Maks?," 3 Oct. 2017 Former football star Terrell Owens displayed great charm on a jive honoring spy movies. — Hal Boedeker, OrlandoSentinel.com, "'Dancing With the Stars': Mad scientist wins night," 23 Oct. 2017 The regnant medium in the pop and R&B markets until musicians copped to Sinatra, Sam Cooke, and Ray Charles’ jive and fiddled with concepts and such, the single devolved into a means to an end during the High Reagan era. — Alfred Soto, Billboard, "Did America Love 'Monkey,' Or Did It Just Love George Michael?," 26 Oct. 2017

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Wild and chaotic do not jive with traditional design. — Sienna Fantozzi, House Beautiful, "Everything You Need To Know About Traditional Design," 12 Oct. 2018 America was ready to come inside and learn how to jive an’ wail. — Kenneth Partridge, Billboard, "In Defense of the Swing Revival: Why America Flipped for '40s Sounds in 1998," 29 May 2018 That type of data jives with what dermatologists see in their practices, says Melanie Grossman, a dermatologist based in New York City. — Dina Fine Maron, Scientific American, "Fact or Fiction?: If You Shave (or Wax), Your Hair Will Come Back Thicker," 26 Aug. 2014 This jives with results of a study published last year among more than 8,000 adults, almost 80 percent of whom reported eating fast food at least once a week. — Samantha Cassetty, NBC News, "How to make your fast food habit healthier," 20 June 2018 Given their prominent presentation and evident attraction for each other, Mr. Phifer and Ms. Yorita remain dominant, jiving and cavorting in and around a bed and a room. — Robert Greskovic, WSJ, "BalletX Review: Philadelphia Footwork," 12 Mar. 2018 But then Henry Wofford, a Black anchor at NBC Sports in San Francisco shucked and jived his way into the conversation. — Essence.com, "Damage Control! News Anchor Apologizes For Dismissing Diddy's Interest In Buying An NFL Team," 19 Dec. 2017 In a category of its own, in 2016, Laurie Hernandez jived to the theme on Dancing with the Stars. — vanityfair.com, "The Story of the DuckTales Theme, History’s Catchiest Single Minute of Music," 9 Aug. 2017 A swing band exists to set the crowd jumping and jiving, but while Mr. Blankenbuehler capitalizes on the period’s shoulder shrugs and swiveling hips, big dance numbers are few, short and subdued. — Alexis Soloski, New York Times, "Review: Singing and Dancing the Postwar Blues in ‘Bandstand’," 26 Apr. 2017

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective

But to Mexican-American youth, the suit was the staple of a rebellious subculture that was defined by jazz music, swing dancing, marijuana smoking, and jive slang. — Mariana Gonzalez, Teen Vogue, "How the Zoot Suit Became a Symbol of Resistance for Mexican-American People," 21 Sep. 2018 This, somehow, does not jive with the optics of what players and coaches are seeing. — Andrew Beaton, WSJ, "Video Review Is Making the World Cup More Accurate—and Uglier, Too," 29 June 2018 Everyone knew this was a rocky idea from the start, not just because Magro had seemingly cheated on Harley with a girl from a club, but because Harley was seven months pregnant, and their lifestyle does not jive with an unborn baby. — Kathryn Lindsay, refinery29.com, "Ronnie Reached A New Low On Last Night's Jersey Shore," 11 May 2018 Good news dancing queens — ABBA has two new songs for you to jive to! — Maria Pasquini, PEOPLE.com, "Thank You for the (New) Music! ABBA Releasing First Songs in 35 Years," 27 Apr. 2018 Carrie White’s slip dress is unimpressive before being covered with blood; Sandy Olsson’s hand jive attire is basic, white ’50s kitsch. — Esther Zuckerman, The Cut, "Finally, a Movie That Gets Prom Dresses Right," 13 Apr. 2018 My muscle-building aspirations just didn't jive with the traditional expectations of Asian women that they were used to. — Jessica Tran, SELF, "How I Learned to Love Being Swole and Asian," 29 Mar. 2018 Maxine, Miss New York State in 1979, and Kirt, whose jive-talk rhymes add to the quirky ambiance, are definitely part of the brunch experience. — George Diaz, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Maxine's Shines as the King and Queen of Orlando Brunch," 13 Oct. 2017 The jive talker, the role of slang-slinging slickster, has been picked up by Slick, Junkyard Dog and the Godfather. — Jeremy Harriot, The Root, "Why Aren’t There More Black WWE Stars?," 1 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'jive.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.