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\ ˈjīv 
\
\Definition of jive
(Entry 1 of 3)
1a : glib, deceptive, or foolish talk
tired of listening to his jive
b : the jargon of hipsters
c : a special jargon of difficult or slang terms
street jive
2 : swing music or the dancing performed to it
jive
verbjived; jiving
Definition of jive (Entry 2 of 3)
1 : to say foolish, deceptive, or unserious things to (someone)
He's jiving you.
2 : swing sense 5
1 : to talk in a foolish, deceptive, or unserious way : to talk jive (see jive entry 1 sense 1)
He's just jiving.
2 : to dance to or play jive (see jive entry 1 sense 2)
jive
adjectiveDefinition of jive (Entry 3 of 3)
slang
: phony if you are late getting to heaven, you will give Saint Peter some jive excuse— Langston Hughes
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Other Words from jive
Noun
jivey \ ˈjī-vē \ adjective
\ adjectiveSynonyms & Antonyms for jive
Synonyms: Noun
- argot,
- cant,
- dialect,
- jargon,
- language,
- lingo,
- patois,
- patter,
- shop,
- shoptalk,
- slang,
- terminology,
- vocabulary
Synonyms: Verb
Synonyms: Adjective
- artificial,
- backhanded,
- counterfeit,
- double,
- double-dealing,
- double-faced,
- fake,
- feigned,
- hypocritical,
- insincere,
- Janus-faced,
- left-handed,
- lip,
- mealy,
- mealymouthed,
- Pecksniffian,
- phony
- (also phoney),
- phony-baloney
- (or phoney-baloney),
- pretended,
- two-faced,
- unctuous
Antonyms: Adjective
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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
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Recent Examples on the Web: Noun During the World Series, entire baseball stadiums acted out the video’s shark-bite hand jive.
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Ben Sisario, New York Times, "‘Baby Shark’ Smells Money Onstage," 15 Nov. 2019 On Monday, her jive earned her three 9's from the judges, for a total score of 27.
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Marianne Garvey, CNN, "'Dancing With the Stars' shock elimination leaves fans shook," 22 Oct. 2019 The latest comes direct from the world of hand jives, baby.
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Nick Romano, EW.com, "Grease TV musical spin-off Rydell High ordered at HBO Max," 15 Oct. 2019 But the idea that Instagram’s algorithm favors more raw content jives with other emerging movements urging people to reject conventional beauty standards, like body positivity, or embracing acne.
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Hanna Kozlowska, Quartzy, "Instagram’s algorithm favors more realistic content because that’s what people want," 21 Sep. 2019 Black characters of this era, however tended to be secondary at best, and too often veered toward blaxploitation caricatures, living in the ghetto and speaking a version of jive as envisioned by their mostly white creators.
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Oliver Staley, Quartz, "Storm is comics’ overlooked groundbreaking superhero," 11 Sep. 2019 His hand jive, soul arches, and toreador-like flourishes play to the camera in a way that breaks the spell of the itinerant surfer in far-flung solitude.
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Jamie Brisick, The New Yorker, "Surfing in the Age of the Omnipresent Camera," 26 Aug. 2019 Why does Cherry Creek Drive shuck and jive between the north and south sides of Cherry Creek east of Colorado?
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Dp Opinion, The Denver Post, "Letters: Incentives Gaylord could receive unknown; TABOR continues to be a hot topic (7/14/19)," 14 July 2019 But nothing could have spoken louder than his small, spontaneous gesture, his awe, far more powerful than today's HD histrionics and hand jive.
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Martha Teichner, CBS News, "Walter Cronkite and the awe of space exploration," 14 July 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb This theory jives with the approach of Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, in redefining balance.
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S. Mitra Kalita For Cnn Business Perspectives, CNN, "9 reasons the Indian CEO keeps coming to the rescue," 2 Feb. 2020 All were built after World War II to cheaply house the masses in a way that jived with communist ideology.
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Laura Mallonee, WIRED, "Ugly or Beautiful? The Housing Blocks Communism Left Behind," 6 Aug. 2019 This jives with what Steward said in his original Instagram announcement.
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Thom Craver, CBS News, "Patrick Stewart introduces new "Star Trek: Picard" trailer at San Diego Comic-Con," 20 July 2019 There are other parts of the TWA Hotel experience that don’t jive with present-day nostalgia for mid-century hospitality.
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Daisy Alioto, Condé Nast Traveler, "What’s the Real Appeal of the TWA Hotel?," 14 June 2019 Spears has never seemed to fully jive with the idea of fame: as a girl from McComb, Mississippi, who went on to become one of the globe’s biggest and most provocative pop stars, her dual personalities have long seemed at odds with each other.
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Christian Allaire, Vogue, "What Exactly Is Going on With Britney Spears?," 15 May 2019 Gray hair—fake or natural—must jive with your coloring to work.
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Rory Satran, WSJ, "The Hottest Hair Color of the Moment is...Gray," 17 Jan. 2019 That jives with a video posted to YouTube in September showing a Waymo vehicle struggling to merge onto a California freeway.
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Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica, "Even self-driving leader Waymo is struggling to reach full autonomy," 7 Dec. 2018 Wild and chaotic do not jive with traditional design.
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Sienna Fantozzi, House Beautiful, "Everything You Need To Know About Traditional Design," 12 Oct. 2018 Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective With that in mind, a wholesale treatment of the record is more chamber recital than jive pageant.
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oregonlive, "29 February concerts to love for Portland’s best live music," 28 Jan. 2020 Chuckling at female servants accidentally shot in the face just doesn’t jive.
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Katie Walsh, San Diego Union-Tribune, "Review: ‘Ready or Not’ sacrifices horror for irony and laughs to skewer the 1 percent," 22 Aug. 2019 Flannery, 55, first performed a jive on Monday during the individual dance portion of the evening and earned a 24/30 from judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli.
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Natalie Stone, PEOPLE.com, "DWTS: The Office's Kate Flannery Is Eliminated," 4 Nov. 2019 Chuckling at female servants accidentally shot in the face just doesn’t jive.
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Katie Walsh, San Diego Union-Tribune, "Review: ‘Ready or Not’ sacrifices horror for irony and laughs to skewer the 1 percent," 22 Aug. 2019 Chuckling at female servants accidentally shot in the face just doesn’t jive.
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Katie Walsh, San Diego Union-Tribune, "Review: ‘Ready or Not’ sacrifices horror for irony and laughs to skewer the 1 percent," 22 Aug. 2019 Chuckling at female servants accidentally shot in the face just doesn’t jive.
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Katie Walsh, San Diego Union-Tribune, "Review: ‘Ready or Not’ sacrifices horror for irony and laughs to skewer the 1 percent," 22 Aug. 2019 Chuckling at female servants accidentally shot in the face just doesn’t jive.
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Katie Walsh, San Diego Union-Tribune, "Review: ‘Ready or Not’ sacrifices horror for irony and laughs to skewer the 1 percent," 22 Aug. 2019 Separately, the nonprofit works to ensure that digital skills are embedded throughout government, and that tech programs jive with the policies being implemented.
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Ally Marotti, chicagotribune.com, "Cook County is partnering with a tech nonprofit to expunge cannabis records. Here’s what to know about Code for America and Clear My Record.," 28 Aug. 2019
See MoreThese 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.
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Learn More about jive
From the Editors at Merriam-Webster
'Jive' vs. 'Jibe' vs. 'Gibe'
'Jive' vs. 'Jibe' vs. 'Gibe'
We hope you jibe with our advice.
Statistics for jive
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Cite this Entry
“Jive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jive. Accessed 26 Feb. 2020.
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More Definitions for jive
jive
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of jive
(Entry 1 of 2)
informal + somewhat old-fashioned
: informal language that includes many slang terms
: deceptive or foolish talk
: a type of fast lively music that was especially popular in the early part of the 20th century also : a dance performed to this type of music
jive
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of jive (Entry 2 of 2)
informal + somewhat old-fashioned
US : to say foolish or deceptive things to (someone)
: to dance to or play jive music
See the full definition for jive in the English Language Learners Dictionary
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Time Traveler for jive
The first known use of jive was in 1928
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