videotape

1 of 2

noun

vid·​eo·​tape ˈvi-dē-ō-ˌtāp How to pronounce videotape (audio)
: a recording of visual images and sound (as of a television production) made on magnetic tape
also : the magnetic tape used for such a recording

videotape

2 of 2

verb

videotaped; videotaping; videotapes

transitive verb

: to make a videotape of
videotape a show

Example Sentences

Noun I watched the movie on videotape. watched a videotape of her daughter's first ballet recital Verb They videotaped the baby's first steps.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Still, evidence in the Capitol riot prosecutions, like the Reffitt case, includes hours and hours of videotape, not only from Capitol surveillance cameras but from the defendants themselves. Dallas News, 8 Mar. 2022 Vince Gilligan, a Cops fan, wrote the episode and actually pitched it back in season four, but both Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz thought the idea was too goofy for the series, and Spotnitz in particular didn't love the idea of emulating Cops' videotape format for the filming. Will Harris, EW.com, 4 Nov. 2022 Dennis is retired from a union job as a videotape operator and Kathleen stayed home to raise their kids. Jenny Vrentas Morgan Lieberman, New York Times, 24 Oct. 2022 The Kills have made the documenting of their lives on the run an essential part of the art from the beginning, shooting each other in various analog formats: Super-8, photo booth portraits, Polaroids, 35mm film, lo-fi videotape – capturing moments torn from life between live dates. Steve Appleford, SPIN, 21 June 2022 The 32-year-old criminal defense lawyer appeared on a national news program, delivering a Korean American perspective on the Los Angeles riots in April 1992, which were provoked by the acquittal of four Los Angeles Police Department officers caught on videotape beating Black motorist Rodney King. NBC News, 29 Apr. 2022 And whether it’s done through filters or frequently shifting film stock, the image quality is ever-varying — sometimes crisp, sometimes grainy, sometimes like an old videotape someone left in a hot car while running errands at the mall. Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 2 Mar. 2022 Surrender to the suspense of watching Naomi Watts as a Seattle reporter trying to figure out why a videotape is connected to terrible things that keep happening. oregonlive, 24 Jan. 2023 The Smile was never burned to death by angry parents in a boiler room, or came back after drowning because camp counselors were too busy making out, or plagued people because a demonic artifact was unearthed in Iraq, or crawled out of TV thanks to a static-y videotape. David Fear, Rolling Stone, 29 Sep. 2022
Verb
Finally, she was asked to be videotaped signing an agreement in order to leave. Tony Ortega, Rolling Stone, 27 Mar. 2023 Pearlman makes a compelling case that baseball and football giant Bo Jackson could be the last sports star whose story is part myth, since his on-field heroics took place before every move on the field was videotaped. Chris Foran, Journal Sentinel, 22 Mar. 2023 But in cases where bystanders have disrupted police actions, even just by videotaping them, they’ve been arrested and charged with obstruction of justice. Brooke Jarvis, New York Times, 8 Mar. 2023 Elon Musk has long been considered cannabis-friendly for his many 420 jokes (the number is slang for marijuana) and for famously being videotaped during a podcast while smoking a mix of marijuana and tobacco, known as a spliff. Verne Kopytoff, Fortune, 16 Feb. 2023 One of the women videotaped some of it on her phone. Erin Moriarty, CBS News, 20 Apr. 2019 The items aren't photographed but videotaped on models, who spin slowly on lazy Susans surrounded by blue masking tape, often talking and laughing, sometimes interacting with the production team. Tara Gonzalez, Harper's BAZAAR, 31 Mar. 2023 Epps, a former Marine, traveled to Washington from his home in Arizona to support Trump and was videotaped on the night before the attack urging people to go inside the Capitol. Alan Feuer, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Mar. 2023 The events were set in motion by a scenario all too familiar today: A bystander videotaped LAPD officers savagely kicking and beating a Black man during a traffic stop as a dozen other officers stood by and watched. Lisa Fung, Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'videotape.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1953, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1957, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of videotape was in 1953

Dictionary Entries Near videotape

Cite this Entry

“Videotape.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/videotape. Accessed 4 Jun. 2023.

Kids Definition

videotape

1 of 2 noun
vid·​eo·​tape ˈvid-ē-ō-ˌtāp How to pronounce videotape (audio)
: a recording of visual images and sound (as of a television production) made on magnetic tape
also : the magnetic tape used for such a recording

videotape

2 of 2 verb
: to make a videotape of
videotape a show

More from Merriam-Webster on videotape

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!