red tape

noun

: official routine or procedure marked by excessive complexity which results in delay or inaction

bureaucratic red tape

… enterprisers that show how people across the Nation are coping (or not coping) with such problems as unemployment, the budget deficit and Government red tape.

—John Weisman

… pompous officials (often lowly clerks) in love with red tape who delight in obstructing the expedition of what should be simple procedures.

—Norman W. Schur

Initial plans became irretrievably mired in the red tape of building permissions.

—Bella Pollen

Their plan is simple enough and none too glamorous: create a Web site to help people cut through red tape; i.e., pay for parking tickets and so on.

—Sarah Kerr

Examples of red tape in a Sentence

You would not believe the red tape involved in getting the required permits.

Recent Examples on the Web

The changes will add red tape and restrictions. —Samantha Liss, CBS News, 30 Mar. 2026

The barrier was a system so centralized, bureaucrats and procedural that even a straightforward literacy effort became tangled in red tape. —Daniel L Gordon, Daily News, 29 Mar. 2026

Insurance plans often have cost-sharing requirements and red tape such as prior authorizations that can delay or deny coverage. —Ken Alltucker, USA Today, 27 Mar. 2026

Walker said OurCalling decided to build in Ellis County because of Dallas’s zoning regulations and red tape. —Dallas Morning News, 26 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

from the red tape formerly used to bind legal documents in England

First Known Use

1736, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for red tape

• agape
• escape
• landscape
• lenape
• reshape
• seascape
• soundscape
• ape
• cape
• crape
• crepe
• drape

Kids Definition

red tape

noun

: rules and regulations that waste people's time