jive

1 of 3

noun

ˈjīv

Synonyms of jive next

: glib, deceptive, or foolish talk

tired of listening to his jive

: the jargon of hipsters

: a special jargon of difficult or slang terms

street jive

: swing music or the dancing performed to it

jivey

ˈjī-vē

adjective

jive

2 of 3

verb

jived; jiving

transitive verb

: to say foolish, deceptive, or unserious things to (someone)

He's jiving you.

: swing sense 5

intransitive verb

: to talk in a foolish, deceptive, or unserious way : to talk jive (see jive entry 1 sense 1)

He's just jiving.

: to dance to or play jive (see jive entry 1 sense 2)

jive

3 of 3

adjective

slang

: phony

if you are late getting to heaven, you will give Saint Peter some jive excuse—

Langston Hughes

Did you know?

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 See More

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

But still the links between Herc, Jamaican toasters, and American jive are clear. —

Heather Augustyn, Spin, 9 Aug. 2023 If aesthetics are important to your buying decision, shop around to find a model that jives with your décor. —

Mike Richard, Men's Health, 14 Aug. 2023 Like the jive of Cab Calloway, toasting used language for its rhythm, percussion, and style. —

Heather Augustyn, Spin, 9 Aug. 2023 That jives with what the source told CNN. —

From Cnn's Krystal Hur, Nicole Goodkind and Allison Morrow, CNN, 29 Mar. 2023 Literal bits of the culture creep in, with references to hand jive and vogueing, for example. —

Lauren Warnecke, Chicago Tribune, 9 Mar. 2023 Aquarius Compatibility Compatibility is a lot more complex than just looking to how your Sun sign jives with another, stresses Lanyadoo. —

Jacqueline Tempera, Women's Health, 27 Feb. 2023 His legs are super stiff during the jive. —

Rodney Ho, ajc, 20 Sep. 2022 Then, there’s the jive. —

Richard Brod, The New Yorker, 11 Aug. 2021

Verb

Meaning, there are more folks in the broad pool of voters, but that doesn't jive with all the Republican base is. —

ABC News, 30 July 2023 Amazon staples like scary animatronics and purple and orange string lights don’t jive with your vibe? —

Brigitt Earley, Glamour, 21 July 2023 TikTok’s latest diet fad is various things dipped in cottage cheese and mustard—some people are jiving with it, and others are mocking it. —

Li Goldstein, Bon Appétit, 14 July 2023 But coiling 1,000 linear feet of drip tube around the front lawn to drip irrigate your favorite tree might not jive with the local HOA police! —

Paul Cappiello, The Courier-Journal, 7 July 2023 Eovaldi has also jived with pitching coach Mike Maddux, who like him, is a pitching strategy junkie. —

Evan Grant, Dallas News, 24 May 2023 The researchers entered into their research with the intent of trying to generate a version of the third law of thermodynamics that jived cleanly with quantum physics. —

Jackie Appel, Popular Mechanics, 4 May 2023 On Tuesday's episode of Live with Kelly and Mark (co-hosted by Ripa, 52, and her husband, Mark Conseulos), Ripa handled a minor wardrobe malfunction like a pro while learning how to jive from Val Chmerkovskiy and Jenna Johnson. —

Alexis Jones, Peoplemag, 19 Apr. 2023 If things aren’t jiving, this is the month to make a change! —

Jacqueline Tempera, Women's Health, 31 Mar. 2023

Adjective

In the 1950s, jive furthered its reach through the embrace of Black radio disc jockeys. —

Heather Augustyn, Spin, 9 Aug. 2023 There’s a moment of bliss when the lighting dims to club level and all eight dancers jive as one. —

Jeffrey Gantz, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Mar. 2023 Here's why agile transformation and a perfect transformation plan just don't jive. —

Andrea Fryrear, Forbes, 8 Mar. 2023 Someone was telling me to stick my butt out and jive talk and walk around and stick your lip out and bug your eyes. —

Mark Olsenstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2023 Families were able to juke and jive to high-quality bands from all over the region in the grass, then head a couple of blocks to await the boom boom over the barricades. —

al, 29 Jan. 2023 In typical Critics Choice fashion, the second the telecast hit a commercial break, stars leaped to their feet, practically skipping across the ballroom to schmooze and jive with other celebs. —

Rasha Ali, USA TODAY, 16 Jan. 2023 While D'Amelio and partner Mark Ballas, along with Windey and and Val Chmerkovskiy received perfect scores for their redemption jive and cha-cha. —

Calie Schepp, EW.com, 22 Nov. 2022 The duo then welcomed Carrie Ann into rehearsals to help with their redemption jive. —

Joelle Goldstein, Peoplemag, 21 Nov. 2022 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'jive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.