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

In California, state legislators are debating how to protect residents and natural resources without creating so much red tape that developers go elsewhere, taking their jobs and taxable earnings with them. —Los Angeles Times, 23 Mar. 2026

Core to that mission is hearing directly from New Yorkers through a new statewide portal that allows residents, business owners, and community leaders to submit ideas for cutting red tape and improving how government operates. —Walter Mosely, New York Daily News, 21 Mar. 2026

There’s always a lot of red tape, right? —Sandra Barrera, Daily News, 20 Mar. 2026

To bypass the red tape, the SINTEF team built its own craft from the ground up in its specialized drone laboratory. —Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 19 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