demo

1 : to give a demonstration of (something, such as a product or procedure) : to show how (something) works, is prepared, or is done The chef demoed everything. His first demo was peeling a carrot.— Michael Ruhlman One dealer didn't even have demonstration software; the only thing he could demo was the power light. — Video Magazine

2 : demolish My mom put little masks on me and my brother, gave us goggles and crowbars, and we demo'd the walls.— Matt Damon Brick salvaged from a demoed fireplace and backyard path make up the new stoop and walkway.— Natalie Rodriguez

3 : to create a demo (see demo entry 1 sense 3b) recording of (a piece of music) … spent three months rehearsing and demoing songs for their third album …— David Fricke

4 : to use (something, such as a product) in order to test its quality or value : to try out (something) The surest way to pick exactly the right ski for your needs is to first narrow your choices to a workable number … and then go out and demo three or four pairs to make your final selection.— Bill Grout

demo-

combining form

variants: or before vowels dem-

Definition of demo- (Entry 3 of 3)

: people : populace : population demography demonym

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Examples of demo in a Sentence

Noun She will be showing a demo of the company's new alarm system. a demo version of the software I saw a demo on how to use the computer program. The salesman gave us a demo of the vacuum cleaner, and it seemed to work very well. They sent the demo to several record companies. She cut a demo last week.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun On Saturday, Jazz Singsanong and Sugar Sungkamee from Jitlada in Thai Town will host a cooking demo; later that evening, Ototo’s Courtney Kaplan will discuss sake. — Jenn Harrisstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, "The Taste, our annual three-day food festival over Labor Day weekend, is back," 29 Aug. 2019 Fitness programs go on throughout the day, including a morning Silver Sneakers fitness demo at 10 a.m. Today only: 10:30 a.m. Outstanding Senior Citizens Award Ceremony at the Leinie Lodge Bandshell. — Kathy Berdan, Twin Cities, "Today at the Fair: Thursday, Aug. 29: Seniors Day," 29 Aug. 2019 The exact scenario a Google spokesperson gave us during a demo? — Meredith Carey, Condé Nast Traveler, "This New Google Maps Tool Will Make Remembering Your Trips So Much Easier," 12 Aug. 2019 SoLo District Block Party — Shops in the SoLo area are throwing a party with demos from each store, like a fly-tying demo from Mountain View Sports, skate jams from Blue and Gold Boardshop and more. — Anchorage Daily News, "Events in Anchorage this week: South Anchorage block party, Ani DiFranco book signing and a free Blackwater Railroad concert," 25 July 2019 Then working for Universal, Stromberg said that Manson auditioned for the in-house Uni label’s then-head, Russ Regan, who financed a demo. — Randall Roberts, chicagotribune.com, "A guide to Charles Manson-related music ahead of ‘Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood’ opening," 25 July 2019 The onstage demo began with two Mojang employees aiming their iOS devices at a table, where a blocky Minecraft game world appeared that both users could simultaneously interact with. — Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica, "Minecraft Earth gets first live demo, coming to iOS “this summer”," 3 June 2019 An onstage demo went from laptop to phone to desktop to TV, picking up and playing the same Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey save file with mere seconds in between each platform. — Hayden Dingman, PCWorld, "Google's Stadia game-streaming service lets you play games anywhere, if your Internet can handle it," 19 Mar. 2019 It was shown off during the keynote event, and even though the onstage demo was prerecorded, seeing and hearing the concept in action floored the audience. — Lauren Goode, WIRED, "How Google's Eerie Robot Phone Calls Hint at AI's Future," 8 May 2018 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Baseline test Representatives from the commissioner's office were on hand hours before Tuesday's game demoing prototype bases at Citi Field, and Diamondbacks first base coach Dave McKay was among those to get an up-close look. — Nick Piecoro, azcentral, "Arizona Diamondbacks' Taijuan Walker throws off a mound, hopes for late-season return," 10 Sep. 2019 Teens at Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School got a chance Thursday to demo the LiveSafe app. — Washington Post, "D.C. responds to students’ safety concerns with an app," 2 Sep. 2019 Voice Control is a huge win for accessibility Apple demoed its new Voice Control feature onstage at WWDC to big applause. — Chris Welch, The Verge, "macOS Catalina first look: goodbye iTunes, hello iPad apps on Mac," 24 June 2019 Unfortunately for this article, that means a lot of features that don't demo well in under five minutes at a launch event. — Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, "Google Pixel 3 hands-on—Not the best first impression," 10 Oct. 2018 According to YouTuber Kevin Kenson, who demoed the device for a recent video on his channel, the Faceoff Deluxe Plus only supports in-game audio for titles using the Vivox integration. — Nick Statt, The Verge, "This $25 Nintendo Switch controller supports in-game Fortnite chat with a headphone jack," 15 July 2019 Before the company initially demoed its product for AT&T execs, for instance, General Magic co-founder Bill Atkinson hadn't showered for a few days and showed up in a Hawaiian shirt. — Nathan Mattise, Ars Technica, "General Magic—how tech superfriends assembled, dreamt up smartphones, and failed," 12 Aug. 2018 The number of blockchain startups demoing at YCombinator has fallen sharply this year. — David Z. Morris, Fortune, "A Spy in the House of Byrne—The Ledger," 26 Aug. 2019 The PostTrak survey — touching on everything from streaming preferences to demo breakdowns to religious affiliation — includes information drawn from 1.25 million interviews. — Pamela Mcclintock, The Hollywood Reporter, "Box Office: Democrats Go to More Movies Than Republicans," 15 Aug. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'demo.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for demo

Verb

by shortening

Combining form

combining form from Greek dêmos "district, country, people, common people, political district in Attica," of uncertain origin

Note: Greek dêmos has traditionally been linked with Old Irish dám "guests, company, retinue," Old Welsh dauu, glossing Latin cliens (hence, presumably, "member of a retinue"), Modern Welsh daw, dawf "son-in-law." However, the semantic discrepancy between the two etyma is significant, and Celtic *dāmo-/*dāmā- has more recently been explained as going back to *dōmo-, a lengthened-grade adjectival derivative of Indo-European *dom-o-s, "house, household." The further traditional link with Indo-European *deh₂- "cut, divide" (whence Greek daíomai, daíesthai "to divide"; cf. tide entry 1), assuming a noun *deh₂-mos meaning originally "part, division," is still possible, though it would be deprived of any support beside Greek.