demo

¹

[dem-oh]

noun

plural

demos 

1. demonstration.

2. demonstrator.

3. a recording of a new song or of one performed by an unknown singer or singing group, distributed to disc jockeys, recording companies, etc., to demonstrate the merits of the song or performer.

4. demolition.

   He does flooring and demo for a living.

verb (used with object)

demoed, demoing 

1. to try out or exhibit the use of (a product, process, or the like).

   You can demo the game without downloading or buying it.

2. to record (a song) to demonstrate the merits of the song or performer.

Demo

²

[dem-oh]

noun

Informal.

plural

Demos 

1. a member of the Democratic Party; Democrat.

demo-

³

1. a combining form occurring in loanwords from Greek, where it meant “people” (democratic ); on this model, used in the formation of compound words (demography ).

demo

¹

/ ˈdɛməʊ /

noun

1. short for demonstration

2. 1. a demonstration record or tape, used for audition purposes

   2. a demonstration of a prototype system

3. short for demonstrator

demo-

²

combining form

1. indicating people or population

   demography

Word History and Origins

Origin of demo¹

1935–40; by shortening; -o

Origin of demo²

An Americanism dating back to 1785–95

Origin of demo³

< Greek dēmo-, combining form of dêmos

Word History and Origins

Origin of demo¹

from Greek dēmos

Example Sentences

It’s not surprising that robot demos seldom show humans interacting closely with walking robots.

From Los Angeles Times

"Whenever we had a bit of time to record demo tracks, we'd gather in the room together and work on finishing the songs as a team."

From BBC

He played music and even tried to take a WhatsApp video call — though that live demo failed.

From Los Angeles Times

I had sent him my demo of “La Patrulla” before, but at first, he didn’t pay that much attention to it.

From Los Angeles Times

In Kaufman's case, his identity had been used to release a track called Someone Who's Love Me, which sounded like "a Casio keyboard demo with broken English lyrics".

From BBC

Related Words

• album 
• disk