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)
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tapes,
present (3rd person singular)
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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:
Adhesive tape allowed them to collect tiny mineral grains from the stones without damaging the monument.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 9, 2026
Given Brammall is known more for comedy roles like “Colin,” he was asked to submit an audition tape.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
A copy of the tape was sent to the FBI office in New York, where it was viewed, one agent told us.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
Oval Office tape transcripts documented the strategy: “The main thing is the Post is going to have damnable, damnable problems out of this one,” Nixon said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Over the next two and a half years, the tape machines picked up nearly four thousand hours of meetings and phone conversations—including an excellent record of the president’s imminent showdown with Daniel Ellsberg.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
We recently recovered the air checks from that day, the actual tapes of the broadcast.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
The detectives brought the bags of tapes into the room where Bayoumi was being questioned - and some of the footage was played to him.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
The mail-order club would offer customers eight to 12 CDs, tapes, records — and, in later years, DVDs and blu-rays — for a penny.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026
Busby entrusted Mr. Mindte with 60 hours of cassette tapes of autobiographical ramblings, which enliven a narrative that gets dry in stretches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
The psychologist Nalini Ambady listened to Levinson’s tapes, zeroing in on the conversations that had been recorded between just surgeons and their patients.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
Mr. Adams had also been struck by the fliers taped up around New York in which relatives and friends of the missing at the World Trade Center sought information about their loved ones.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 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
Last year, he embedded with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials during raids, including in Chicago, where he and his crew taped arrests.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
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
“She rather cleverly taped some British pounds into the inner lining of a card. Quite impressive. She sent one for Olanna too.”
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Others took a more simple do-it-yourself approach, taping their cards between two star-shaped pieces of paper.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026
Before the taping, “The Terminal Crew of Dudes” performed the show together twice.
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
He finished taping the bandage back over my eye.
From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
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.
