jive

1 of 3

noun

1
a
: 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
jivey adjective

jive

2 of 3

verb

jived; jiving

transitive verb

1
: to say foolish, deceptive, or unserious things to (someone)
He's jiving you.
2

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

3 of 3

adjective

slang
: phony
if you are late getting to heaven, you will give Saint Peter some jive excuseLangston 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
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Noun
While Carrie Ann noted that Chandler had the hardest season of all the contestants, their jive earned raves across the board and nabbed them yet another perfect score of 30. Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 27 Nov. 2024 Season 33 promises to be another unpredictable round of cha-cha-chas, jives, waltzes, foxtrots, and more. Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 6 Sep. 2024
Verb
Ready or not, the Dancing With the Stars competitors are jamming, jiving, and foxtrotting in full throttle. Calie Schepp, EW.com, 9 Oct. 2024 When reality doesn’t jive with her desires (see also: Shauna’s early acceptance to Brown), no one dares shatter her illusions. Judy Berman, TIME, 2 Oct. 2024
Adjective
Amanda Seyfried is down to dance, jive, and have the time of her life with Sabrina Carpenter in a third Mamma Mia film. EW.com, 2 Oct. 2024 For their first performances, the celebrity and pro duos' dances ran the gamut from the tango, to the cha-cha, salsa, foxtrot, and jive. Lauren Huff, EW.com, 18 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for jive 

Word History

Etymology

Noun, Verb, and Adjective

origin unknown

First Known Use

Noun

1925, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1928, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Adjective

1953, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of jive was in 1925

Dictionary Entries Near jive

Cite this Entry

“Jive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jive. Accessed 6 Dec. 2024.

Kids Definition

jive

1 of 2 noun
1
: swing music or dancing performed to it
2
a
: glib, deceptive, or foolish talk
b
: a special jargon of difficult or slang terms

jive

2 of 2 verb
jived; jiving
1
2
: to dance or play jive

More from Merriam-Webster on jive

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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