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

All of these issues combined have left Target with a workforce that has grown faster than sales and a complex corporate structure that has hampered decision-making and created needless red tape. —Gabrielle Fonrouge,annie Palmer,frank Holland, CNBC, 4 Nov. 2025

There was a lot of money to be made, and an alliance with the New York City Mayor would certainly make things a lot easier, especially while cutting through red tape. —Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 28 Oct. 2025

Now immigration judges and officials at the Department of Homeland Security seem to be taking sadistic satisfaction in using red tape and legal loopholes to seal their fates. —Air Mail, 25 Oct. 2025

The ballot proposals would effectively do that by allowing projects that are 25 percent affordable to move forward with less red tape in districts that aren’t doing their share. —Kim Velsey, Curbed, 24 Oct. 2025

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