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Glite Dictionary
to lip-sync

to lip-sync

9 4.6
To move the lips to match recorded speech or music
  • verb
  • /ˈlɪpˌsɪŋk/
  • US
: hacer playback
  • At the talent show, she decided to lip-sync to her favorite pop song for the audience.
  • lip-sync songs
  • lip-sync a concert
  • lip-sync their hit

That was a character I was playing, OK, where I went out on stage and tried to force the audience to lip sync Papa Roach with me.

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Examples

  • It appeared to me that she was lip syncing for most of it.

  • Playback singers record the songs off-screen in studios, while the actors and actresses lip-sync to them onscreen.

    Academic text (2006)

  • In fact, they knew it well enough to lip-sync it.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • So you can lip-sync to them properly.

    Sing Street (2016)

  • The record started, and I began to lip-sync the longest song of my life.

    Academic text (2009)

  • I lip-sync, I emcee, I dance.

    Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)

  • If a fan found out that Rage was lip-syncing at a concert, they would lose a ton of credibility as an artist.

    Blog text (28)

  • She could sing it herself or lip-sync it, and you couldn't tell the difference.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • As with most hiplife performers, they lip-sync live shows to their own pre-recorded tracks.

    Academic text (2009)

  • In his most popular video to date, Oakley lip-syncs to Nicki Minaj.

    Blog text (30)

Synonyms

to lip-synch
vsto lip-sync
  • UK
9 6.6

To move your lips to match recorded singing or speech so it looks like you sing

is the other spelling variant used for the same action
to mouth the words
vsto lip-sync
9 6.9

To move your lips to form words without making any sound

is performed in time with recorded audio rather than silent practice

How Synchronized

to synchronize
  • Specialized
2 4.7
to lip-sync
  • US
9 4.6

Surface Forms

lip-sync infinitive
lip-synced past
lip-synced past participle
lip-syncing present participle
lip-syncs third person singular

Morphology

lip-sync = lip + sync (transparent) = lip + sync

Meaning is a straightforward compound of 'lip' + 'sync' (to move the lips in synchronization with recorded sound), so learners who know the components can derive the meaning.

Etymology

Lip-sync combines lip and sync, short for synchronize, which means 'at the same time'. So to lip-sync is to move your lips to 'match' recorded speech or music, making it look like you are really speaking or singing.