jive

noun

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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

verb

jived; jiving

Definition of jive (Entry 2 of 3)

transitive verb

1 : to say foolish, deceptive, or unserious things to (someone) He's jiving you.

2 : swing sense 5

intransitive verb

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

adjective

Definition 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

Other Words from jive Synonyms & Antonyms Jive vs. Jibe More Example Sentences Learn More About 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 Talk host uses her off time to teach online fitness classes, but no amount of extra-curricular cardio seemed to help with her underwhelming jive that featured one too many lifts. — Lynette Rice, EW.com, 2 Nov. 2021 Paired with pro dancer Sasha Farber, Lee showed moments of raw athletic awesomeness — bouncing up from a split with shocking alacrity and giving precise kicks and flicks in her jive. — Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 21 Sep. 2021 In an era of TikTok pop jive, Cedric Burnside is a dirty-fingernails bluesman. — Matt Wake | Mwake@al.com, al, 29 Sep. 2021 Lee made her Dancing with the Stars debut this week, performing a jive with partner Sasha Farber. — Naledi Ushe, PEOPLE.com, 22 Sep. 2021 Waits left, the brief Camelot of our street corner jive ended. — New York Times, 30 July 2021 Waits left, the brief Camelot of our street corner jive ended. — New York Times, 30 July 2021 Waits left, the brief Camelot of our street corner jive ended. — New York Times, 30 July 2021 The first round saw Ally and Sasha zooming out to a perfect 30 for 30 from the judges with a spot-on jive. — Hannah Yasharoff, USA TODAY, 11 Aug. 2021 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb New and old systems often don't jive together, so bridging that gap is essential for a successful last-mile implementation. — Daniel Sokolovsky, Forbes, 8 Oct. 2021 And attendees on lawn chairs will jive to the sounds of steel bands. — BostonGlobe.com, 28 Aug. 2021 That mandate didn't jive with a Florida state law banning businesses from requiring proof of vaccination. — Morgan Hines, USA TODAY, 23 June 2021 Memory foam mattresses might be a hot commodity in the mattress game right now, but the newer technology doesn’t jive with everybody. — Kevin Luna, chicagotribune.com, 7 Mar. 2021 All of that would jive with a guy who is trying to lift the ball more to create extra carry. — Evan Grant, Dallas News, 24 Sep. 2020 Potential spoiler warning: Consisting of six issues, that volume sees Beta unleash the dead on the group in the aftermath of Alpha's death, which so far jives with the show. — Nick Romano, EW.com, 6 Apr. 2020 For the gently jiving Mr. Businessman, not the beat, but that’s okay. — Seija Rankin, EW.com, 21 Apr. 2020 Mayfield, Garrett and Ward are the only picks to reach the quality threshold, which probably jives with how most fans viewed their rookie years. — Scott Patsko, cleveland, 21 Apr. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective Using his kid to gain a recruiting advantage, Venables stood up in front of people and spun together some devilishly brilliant recruiting jive in his introductory speech. — Joseph Goodman | Jgoodman@al.com, al, 7 Dec. 2021 Can that tight-coverage, aggressive mentality jive if Dallas encounters a similar officiating crew in the coming months? — Jori Epstein, USA TODAY, 26 Nov. 2021 That was Bo Nix, Auburn fan for life, talking jive the week of the Iron Bowl. — Joseph Goodman | Jgoodman@al.com, al, 24 Nov. 2021 The Peloton instructor also earned two bonus points in the jive relay round, bringing his final total for the night to 36. — Gabrielle Duncan, PEOPLE.com, 1 Nov. 2021 But bringing it in from elsewhere didn’t jive with the premise of a truly self-sufficient environment. — Jill Barth, Forbes, 28 Sep. 2021 In many of these passages, facts, gyration, jive and comedy are cut across one another yet in equilibrium. — Mark Olsen Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 2 July 2021 In many of these passages, facts, gyration, jive and comedy are cut across one another yet in equilibrium. — Mark Olsen Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 2 July 2021 In many of these passages, facts, gyration, jive and comedy are cut across one another yet in equilibrium. — Mark Olsen Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 2 July 2021

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.