tape
Americannoun
-
tapes
plural
-
a strip of cloth, paper, or plastic with an adhesive surface, used for sealing, binding, or attaching items together; adhesive tape or masking tape.
-
a long, narrow strip of fabric used for tying garments, binding seams or carpets, etc.
-
a long, narrow strip of paper, metal, etc.
-
a magnetic tape carrying recorded sound or images.
I made a digital copy of that tape of Grandpa playing the violin.
-
a string stretched across the finishing line in a race and broken by the winning contestant on crossing the line.
verb (used with object)
-
tapes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
taped,
past participle, past
-
taping
present participle
-
to furnish with a tape or tapes.
-
to tie up, bind, or attach with tape.
-
to measure with or as if with a tape measure.
-
to record or prerecord on magnetic tape.
verb (used without object)
-
tapes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
taped,
past participle, past
-
taping
present participle
noun
-
a long thin strip, made of cotton, linen, etc, used for binding, fastening, etc
-
any long narrow strip of cellulose, paper, metal, etc, having similar uses
-
a string stretched across the track at the end of a race course
-
slang military another word for stripe 1
verb
-
Also: tape-record. (also intr) to record (speech, music, etc)
-
to furnish with tapes
-
to bind, measure, secure, or wrap with tape
-
informal (usually passive) to take stock of (a person or situation); sum up
he's got the job taped
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
tapernoun
-
pretapeverb (used with object)
-
retapeverb (used with object)
-
tapelessadjective
-
tapelikeadjective
-
untapedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
tapesimple
-
tapessimple
-
have tapedperfect
-
has tapedperfect
-
am tapingprogressive
-
are tapingprogressive
-
is tapingprogressive
-
have been tapingperfect progressive
-
has been tapingperfect progressive
Past
-
tapedsimple
-
had tapedperfect
-
was tapingprogressive
-
were tapingprogressive
-
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:
But the British actor sent in a tape anyway.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
“The Compassionate Allowances initiative cuts through red tape and allows us to deliver support to individuals who experience life-changing diagnoses and need help fast.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
Open the top the box and tape the cutout to the bottom.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
Dozens of Gaza students who won scholarships to universities in Italy are still waiting to be evacuated due to bureaucratic red tape, leaving qualified students in a deadly conflict zone, AFP has found.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
We empty and refill drawers stuffed with loose drill bits and wood screws, batteries, rolls of tape, and twenty-year-old receipts for two-dollar bottles of glue.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
In May, his personal lawyers sued the justice department in an effort to keep the tapes private, but after legal defeats they dropped their lawsuit.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
“Happy Birthday” was recorded almost entirely on four-track cassette tapes, while “Fire From the Hip” uses 24-track reel-to-reel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
The year 1976 saw the founding of Apple and the introduction of VHS tapes, but the national audience was still very much a reality.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
I remember tipping the clerk at the local video store to “reserve” the tapes — they were always stolen or otherwise “lost” and never returned.
From Salon ● Jun. 17, 2026
Abby tapes on my bow tie and pokes my cheeks, which is something she does weirdly often because apparently my cheeks are adorable.
From "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli
There is a large police presence in the Fitzroy Avenue area, appearing to show specialist officers at the scene with a section of road taped off.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Several of the officers whom Flores taped said he often talked about wanting to win the “LAPD lottery,” meaning he intended to sue the department and retire on his winnings, according to the motion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
The conversations were taped between March and October 2024 involving members of the department’s recruitment unit, whose officers are tasked with deciding who can join the police force.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
"I just asked him in person if what he said was true the night before, and he said it was," Robinson's roommate Lance Twiggs told investigators in the taped interview.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
I bet they had matching floral bedspreads with heart-shaped throw pillows and pictures of rock stars taped on their headboards.
From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor
“Most courts say this exception only applies to taping for criminal investigations,” said Seager.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
“Most courts say this exception only applies only to taping for criminal investigations,” Seager said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
Maniscalco pulls audiences in with contortionist levels of body language that he uses to demonstrate his observations of absurd human behavior, from splitting dinner tabs with Venmo to taping our mouths shut for sleep.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
That WWE ring sees unexpected action late Sunday afternoon, while MMA fighter and professional annoying person Logan Paul is taping an especially irritating episode of his Impaulsive podcast.
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2026
There’s even a shot of Lena, Hannah, and me taping plastic bags on Edna.
From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina
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.
