Meanings
present singular third person bites one's lip · participle present biting one's lip · past bit one's lip · participle past bitten one's lip
- idiomaticTo forcibly prevent oneself from speaking, especially in order to avoid saying something inappropriate or likely to cause a dispute.
He broke off and bit his lip, feeling that he had better subdue the rising anger in his voice.
1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “(please specify the page)”, in Tales of the Jazz Age, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC1 more example
Buckingham bit his lip, for he saw the introduction of Lady Derby was likely to confuse and embroil every preparation which he had arranged for his defence; […]
1822, [Walter Scott], chapter XIII, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume IV, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 304Synonyms: bite one's tongue
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo forcibly prevent oneself from speaking, especially in order to avoid saying something inappropriate or likely to cause a dispute.
Cite this entry
bite one's lip. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bite%20one's%20lip
“bite one's lip.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bite%20one's%20lip. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bite one's lip,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bite%20one's%20lip.
Source: bite one's lip on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.