tape
Americannoun
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tapes
plural
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a strip of cloth, paper, or plastic with an adhesive surface, used for sealing, binding, or attaching items together; adhesive tape or masking tape.
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a long, narrow strip of fabric used for tying garments, binding seams or carpets, etc.
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a long, narrow strip of paper, metal, etc.
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a magnetic tape carrying recorded sound or images.
I made a digital copy of that tape of Grandpa playing the violin.
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a string stretched across the finishing line in a race and broken by the winning contestant on crossing the line.
verb (used with object)
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tapes,
present (3rd person singular)
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taped,
past participle, past
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taping
present participle
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to furnish with a tape or tapes.
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to tie up, bind, or attach with tape.
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to measure with or as if with a tape measure.
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to record or prerecord on magnetic tape.
verb (used without object)
-
tapes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
taped,
past participle, past
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taping
present participle
noun
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a long thin strip, made of cotton, linen, etc, used for binding, fastening, etc
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any long narrow strip of cellulose, paper, metal, etc, having similar uses
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a string stretched across the track at the end of a race course
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slang military another word for stripe 1
verb
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Also: tape-record. (also intr) to record (speech, music, etc)
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to furnish with tapes
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to bind, measure, secure, or wrap with tape
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informal (usually passive) to take stock of (a person or situation); sum up
he's got the job taped
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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tapernoun
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pretapeverb (used with object)
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retapeverb (used with object)
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tapelessadjective
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tapelikeadjective
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untapedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tapesimple
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tapessimple
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have tapedperfect
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has tapedperfect
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am tapingprogressive
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are tapingprogressive
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is tapingprogressive
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have been tapingperfect progressive
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has been tapingperfect progressive
Past
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tapedsimple
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had tapedperfect
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was tapingprogressive
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were tapingprogressive
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had been tapingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tape
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; unexplained variant of tappe, Old English tæppe “strip (of cloth),” literally, “part torn off”; akin to Middle Low German teppen “to tear, pluck”
Explanation
Tape is a sticky strip of material you can use for fastening paper or other light objects. You can use a piece of tape to tape a "Keep Out" sign to your bedroom door. A long strip marked with inches or centimeters is a measuring tape, and this is actually the earliest meaning of the word tape. It evolved to be used for many narrow strips, like the tape a marathon runner breaks through at the finish line, the crime scene tape that police use to mark off an area, or the tape you use for recording sound or video.
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.
See Examples For:
The difference in tariff rates, along with the extensive red tape involved in tracing U.S.-made components, has led some firms to shift production from North America to Asia, representatives from automakers told the negotiators.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
“ASML has outperformed its semiconductor equipment peers in a weak semiconductor tape in the past quarter.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
"Writing the record is only half the problem. You also have to read it back out of each cell, so we redesigned the tape to make that easier," said Kim.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026
Streets were blocked off with yellow police line tape that read “do not cross.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Inside were the fuzzy tape and the orange button.
From "Sleepover Sleuths: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #1" by Carolyn Keene
The statute defines “videotape service provider” to include any person in the business of delivering “prerecorded video cassette tapes or similar audio visual materials.”
From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2026
“We played hours and hours of motivational tapes by the greatest minds in business,” Dave Liniger recalled.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Littleton Auctions is handling sale and say the tapes, recorded directly from the sound desk, form the only master archive of their kind.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
We recently recovered the air checks from that day, the actual tapes of the broadcast.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
No doubt the fairies were reviewing the tapes of their first negotiating session, searching for anything that would give them a way in.
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
I taped over pictures of myself and put away anything with personal information, so that Tau Robotics’ bipedal robots wouldn’t collect any identifying data.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
“Do you have a cool job and a big heart?,” read a sign taped to a New York City lightpole.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
There was a small kitchen, with a sign taped to the fridge: “Please clean up after yourself no maid service here!!!”
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2026
Across the French capital, where few homes have air conditioning, desperate locals had taped foil survival blankets over their windows, hoping to keep out the fierce sun.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
The question is answered when hate notes and truck-loads of pansies are delivered to my training camp, the little sanctuary where I skip rope while listening to taped lectures on coronary collateralization and threadworm infection.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
Others took a more simple do-it-yourself approach, taping their cards between two star-shaped pieces of paper.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026
Any material that cannot be shot in front of a live studio audience — because of limitations with sets, timing or special effects — is shot the day before the live taping.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
You can be part of a live taping of the show, go to slate.com/breakfasttable to register for online access.
From Slate ● Jun. 30, 2026
"They're designed to reflect heat and they are large, so they're ideal for taping to the window frame to reflect most of the light back out," he says.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
I bet Mrs. Odom was taping their school papers up on the wall and telling them how proud she was of them.
From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor
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