"lip service" / "cause"

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fadysandy

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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Several governments payed lip service to the women's cause.

What do they mean??
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5jj

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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Several governments [/FONT][STRIKE]payed[/STRIKE] paid[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] lip service to the women's cause.

What do they mean??
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If you pay lip service to something, you say that you support it or believe in it, but take no action to back up your words.

A cause is an idea you believe in and fight for. The women's cause is the fight for the emancipation of women from outdated concepts of their subservience and/or inferiority to men.
 

Evil Anagram

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To pay lip service to a cause means the subject pretends to care about a cause, but takes no real action to support it. "Lip service" refers to the act of going through the motions so that others think you are part of something, but not actually believing in it or taking action to support it.

For example, if someone goes to church and only pays lip service, they are only saying the prayers out loud so that others think they are religious, but don't actually believe in whatever god is being worshipped.
 
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