gibe
1 Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
verb (used with or without object)
verb
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
- giber noun
- gibingly adverb
Etymology
Origin of gibe
First recorded before 1560–70; perhaps from Middle French giber “to handle roughly, shake,” derivative of gibe “staff, billhook”
Explanation
"Loser! Bonehead!" the kids shouted, tossing those words and other gibes at the people who offered themselves up to the annual humiliation of the harvest-fest dunk-tank. A gibe is an insulting comment. To gibe is to insult. Gibe can be a noun or a verb, but it’s usually a noun meaning an insult, a dis, something to be hurled at enemies, bad drivers, or ex-boyfriends. Gibe is sometimes spelled jibe, but that word has a different meaning and is usually a verb. Keep the g in gibe when referring to the mean words you utter at people who have done you wrong.
Vocabulary lists containing gibe
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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"Easter, 1916" by W.B. Yeats
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Othello
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In his telling, the general’s gibe reflected the new current of naturalistic explanation that influenced Pericles.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026
One recalls Talleyrand’s famous gibe at Napoleon for executing the Duke of Enghien in 1804: “It’s worse than a crime; it’s a mistake.”
From Slate • Apr. 8, 2026
The remark was not audible among those present in the courtroom gallery, but Moghaddas saw and heard Girardi hurl the gibe from his seat at the defense table.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 13, 2023
While the term has come to be seen as an admirable quality in a leader who can overcome deficiencies that would doom anyone else, Mrs. Schroeder’s gibe was not intended as a compliment.
From Washington Post • Mar. 13, 2023
Johnny had seen enough of Madge and Dorcas and their suitors to know that the gibe about poor boys aspiring to Miss Lavinia had gone home.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
