demo
noun
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demo
1 American
[dem-oh]
/ ˈdɛm oʊ /
noun
-
demos
plural
-
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.
-
He does flooring and demo for a living.
verb (used with object)
demoed,
demoing
-
to try out or exhibit the use of (a product, process, or the like).
You can demo the game without downloading or buying it.
-
to record (a song) to demonstrate the merits of the song or performer.
Demo
2
American
[dem-oh]
/ ˈdɛm oʊ /
noun
Informal.
-
Demos
plural
demo-
3
American
demo
1
British
/ ˈdɛməʊ /
noun
-
short for demonstration
-
-
a demonstration record or tape, used for audition purposes
-
a demonstration of a prototype system
-
-
short for demonstrator
demo-
2
British
combining form
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of demo1
1935–40; by shortening; see -o
Origin of Demo2
An Americanism dating back to 1785–95
Origin of demo-3
< Greek dēmo-, combining form of dêmos
Explanation
A demo is what you give to show how something works. You might give a demo of your fancy new espresso machine to your weekend guests, so they'll know how to use it. Demo is short for demonstrate or demonstration. It can be a verb, as when a tech company demos its new tablet or laptop. It's also a noun: "The demo of that software was pretty interesting." In the music industry, a demo is a practice version of a song, meant to show a record label or music venue what a performer's music sounds like. This meaning's been around since the 1960s, while earlier it meant "a political demonstration."
Vocabulary lists containing demo
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:
There was a demo track titled “Death of Me” and it just grabbed my attention.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Susanne Bieller, general secretary of the International Federation of Robotics, said humanoids with flashy skills that have impressed the public are often prototypes trained for a highly tailored demo.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
How about building a website and selling the demo directly to fans?
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
McPeake noted that the company sold a $332,000 system to an unnamed “large financial institution” last year and conducted a live cybersecurity demo at a conference in March.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
A moment later every demo computer screen, monitor, phone, and tablet blinked, and their displays lit up with the picture of me covered in paint wearing the alien mask.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
It received a Best Paper Honorable Mention recognition, while a demo of the research team's broader robotic feeding system received a Best Demo Award.
From Science Daily ● May 9, 2024
A nationwide campaign, known as the Flower Demo, was launched by activists to show solidarity with sexual assault survivors.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2023
Demo sessions began at Lanois’ makeshift studio in a converted movie theater in Oxnard, not far from Dylan’s home on Malibu’s Point Dume.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2023
Accessories for customized bikes have even been difficult to secure, said Demo Diakoumakos, manager at the Harley-Davidson dealer at Chicago's Wrigleyville location.
From Reuters ● Jul. 25, 2022
"Look here," said Demo, carelessly, "you must come and dine with me one night, all of you—will you?"
From The Card, a Story of Adventure in the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett
Telis Demos is a writer for Heard on the Street and is co-host of The Wall Street Journal’s Take on the Week, a weekly podcast about markets and finance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026
Demos, presentations and meetings will take place in a massive convention center as well as ballrooms and suites throughout the city.
From Barron's ● Jan. 3, 2026
Demos recorded at that time got the attention of Steve Allen, who put her on his prime-time television variety show.
From New York Times ● Mar. 15, 2023
Heather McGhee, the former president of progressive think tank Demos, wrote about this phenomenon in her book “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 27, 2023
Virginia Demos, who teaches psychology at Harvard, recalls having long conversations with Tomkins during the 1988 Democratic National Convention.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
He founded the Modern Lovers in 1970 in Natick, Mass., and recorded demos in 1971 and ’72.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
That leaves investors with a clearer path than the headlines suggest: own the platform for versality and flexibility, screen the suppliers for revenue, avoid paying up for the humanoid demos.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
When I was working on the demos, I was like “Let me try this 432 Hz thing” and I like how it feels for me personally, how I sing on the frequencies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
This year tech firms were able to offer demos of their wares for the first time on Paris' Champs-Elysees avenue.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
This being a direct rather than a representative democracy, membership of the demos, or sovereign body, was by right rather than by election, and every decision was taken on a one-man, one-vote basis.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
Grohl demoed more than 50 songs - typically in the middle of the night, many of them instrumental, touching on influences as diverse as Massive Attack, Pink Floyd and Bad Brains.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2026
When Musk returned to the stage a year later, he demoed a prototype called Bumblebee, with visible wires and actuators.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 3, 2026
One of the launch partners that was demoed during the DevDay keynote was Canva, the graphic design application.
From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2025
AI companies, including OpenAI, Google and Meta, have demoed or shared their tools with movie and TV studios and directors.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2025
The company demoed a text generator that can read long Word documents and write blog posts highlighting the most relevant points.
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2023
At the Times Food Stage, Cassandra Peterson, known for her work as Elvira, will be demoing from her book “Elvira’s Cookbook From Hell.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2026
In a third, Jonathan Shobrook, a fellow, was demoing his product, Adrenaline, a tool that lets you ask natural-language questions of your code base.
From New York Times ● May 31, 2023
They took their food processors on the road, demoing the quick work they could made of the labor-intensive, classical French techniques in style at the time.
From Salon ● Dec. 5, 2021
YouTuber Geek with Social Skills was demoing the game, and got a note that he should try inserting the game disk upside-down.
From The Verge ● Jul. 5, 2021
Kaname Hayashi will be demoing Lovot, a chick-like bot with large expressive eyes, flapping arms, wheels, and a wardrobe of clothes to cover its soft shell.
From BBC ● Jan. 4, 2019
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.
