audiotape

American  

[aw-dee-oh-teyp] / ˈɔ di oʊˌteɪp /

noun

1. magnetic tape for recording sound (distinguished from videotape).

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Etymology

Origin of audiotape

First recorded in 1960–65; audio- + tape

Explanation

An audiotape is a magnetic strip with sounds recorded on it. It is also the word for the small plastic case in which the strip is wound on a reel and played back in a cassette player. To some people, an audiotape is an unfamiliar, outdated technology, as other technologies for recording and playing back sounds are more common now. But audiotapes were the dominant medium for recording and listening to music and other audio recordings in the 1970s and '80s. An audiotape, also called a cassette tape, is small enough to be easily carried in a bag or pocket. People played them on portable music players, which were often built right into their cars' dashboards. This technology made it possible to easily take music anywhere you went.

Example Sentences

Beset by scandal — four criminal cases and the leak of an embarrassing secret audiotape in just four years — the Los Angeles City Council could take an important step toward transforming itself this week.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 2, 2023

“It is like, highly confidential. Secret. This is secret information,” Trump said, according to an audiotape of the meeting.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 21, 2023

No politician learned a harder lesson about the power of audiotape than Nixon.

From Washington Post • Apr. 26, 2022

Still, last week, Ms. Mousavi contradicted her earlier account of her relationship with her husband in an audiotape from prison released by Human Rights Activists News Agency, a Washington-based advocacy group.

From New York Times • Jul. 5, 2021

President Johnson listens to an audiotape sent from Vietnam by Captain Charles Robb, his son-in-law, 1968.

From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge

Related Words

• videotape