mouth the words | Idiomator

Meaning: (literally)Tomouthwords in the sense "to make the actions ofspeech, without producing sound."1960,Dorothy Uris, “The Family Speech Workshop”, inEverybody's Book of Better Speaking‎[1],→OCLC,page73:Indeed, onDick Clark'smadly popular teen-age TV showthe various acts never sing at all, but merelymouth the wordsto their own taped recordings.; (idiomatic)Tospeakinsincerely.1935,Moissaye Joseph Olgin, “The Struggle Against Fascism”, inWhy Communism? Plain Talks on Vital Problems‎[2], 2nd Revised edition,page48:Theymouth the words“democracy” and “Americanism”, but they inject in theirpreachmentsnational hatred, national aggrandizement, and glorification of the fascist dictatorships.1991,William Jennings Jefferson, quotee,Hearing on the Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965: Library Programs: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education of the Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, One Hundred Second Congress, First Session, Hearing Held in Washington, DC, April 16, 1991‎[3],→ISBN,→LCCN,→OCLC,HDL loc.law/llconghear.00186243572, archived fromthe originalon30 April 2015,page 5:By proposing to eliminateTitle IIprograms for fiscal year 1992,President Bushis sending America's colleges and universities, and those they seek to educate a most disheartening message: that he is willing tomouth the words“educational excellence,” but he is not willing to invest in the programs that can make such excellence realizable.

Examples:

EN: I answered, " I can mouth the words like all the actors in films.
ES: Contesté, "Puedo mover los labios...
EN: Just mouth the words.
ES: Pues mueve los labios.
EN: And I saw him mouth the words, "Help us."
ES: Lo vi decir la palabra: "Ayúdanos".
EN: Just make sure that you mouth the words exactly like we recorded them.
ES: Tan solo aseguraos de decir las palabras tal y como las grabamos.
EN: And remember, mouth the words and no one will know.
ES: Recordad, decid las palabras y nadie se enterará.
EN: - Just mouth the words.
ES: - Sólo mueve los labios.
EN: Right. We need to learn this song. We can't just mouth the words anymore.
ES: Necesitamos aprenderla, no podemos mover la boca y ya.
EN: Well, maybe at the next house, you can just mouth the words, and we'll see what that sounds like.
ES: Bueno, tal vez en la siguiente casa, puedes ajustar tus cuerdas bucales, y veremos que tal suena eso.
EN: - Oh, not you, sweetie. You just mouth the words.
ES: - Tú no cariño, tú sólo mueve la boca.
EN: - Just mouth the words. - But that's not enough!
ES: Sólo no des la vuelta para el otro lado, ¿de acuerdo?
EN: All we gotta do is mouth the words.
ES: Solo diremos las palabras.
EN: You just, you just mouth the words of La Bamba.
ES: Tú sólo, tú sólo dices las palabras La Bamba
EN: When I was in second grade, my music teacher, Mr. Ponte, told me that some people are meant to just mouth the words.
ES: Cuando estaba en el colegio, mi profesor, el señor Ponte, me dijo que algunas personas sirven solo para hablar.
EN: I just mouth the words like everybody else.
ES: Solo articulé las palabras como todos los demás.
EN: She could sing, whereas I was literally the person standing at the back who was asked to mouth the words, because I was off-tune.
ES: Ella sabía cantar, mientras que yo era la que estaba al fondo y a la que pedían que fingiese que cantaba.

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