tape
Americannoun
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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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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)
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:
Once a victim crosses a jurisdictional line, everything that happened on the other side of it too often gets lost in the nowhere land of bureaucracy and red tape.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
When she got home four hours later, the house was cordoned off with police tape, with officers guarding the door.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
German carmakers have long complained of high costs and onerous red tape while critics contend the companies themselves need to restructure and improve how they are run.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
Bagdasarian’s father, Ross Bagdasarian Sr., who went by the stage name David Seville, invented the musical trio in 1958 after speeding up his voice to achieve a higher pitch using a $200 tape recorder.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Her ornate wood frame is perched atop four curved wooden legs, her arms as high as her back, and she’s been repaired with duct tape in more than a few places.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
This includes documents, artwork, tapes, storyboards and posters.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 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
I also watched a lot of movies on VHS tapes and surfed some of the world’s biggest waves along the coast.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
Thankfully, modern technology means suitcases packed with VHS tapes will no longer be necessary.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
“No one is ever going to hear those tapes but you and me.”
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
Instead, he found handwritten signs taped to the restaurant’s door: “Rebuild it. This is our home. Don’t change a thing,” recounts Katerina.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 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
Astrid Cooper, 34, from Brislington in Bristol, had several notes taped to her car asking her to park further away.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
It was near the auditorium where Jackie Gleason taped his weekly variety show, and his June Taylor Dancers used to come in for lunch.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
Big signs made with colored markers and printer paper taped together.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
“Why not still play it if you still love it?” he said during a live taping of “The Shop” podcast at Fanatics Fest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 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
The taping was evident again when she walked out on to Andy Murray Arena to face Vekic and it immediately looked like her mobility was hampered.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
One of the high points of her life was the day she attended a taping of Wheel of Fortune and visited Vanna White's dressing room.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
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.
