cassette

American  

[kuh-set, ka-] / kəˈsɛt, kæ- /

noun

• cassettes
  plural

1. Also called cassette tape.  a compact case containing a length of magnetic tape that runs between two small reels: used for recording or playback of audio or video in a tape recorder, cassette deck, video camera, or VCR, and for storage of data by some small computer systems.

2. Photography. a lightproof metal or plastic container for a roll of film, having a single spool for supplying and rewinding the film.

3. a replaceable or refillable cartridge in a typewriter or printer that contains the ribbon or ink.

4. a case or tray in a printer or copier that holds the paper.

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cassette British  

/ kæˈsɛt /

noun

1. 1. a plastic container for magnetic tape, as one inserted into a tape deck

   2. ( as modifier )

      a cassette recorder

2. photog another term for cartridge

3. films a container for film used to facilitate the loading of a camera or projector, esp when the film is used in the form of a loop

4. the injection of genes from one species into the fertilized egg of another species

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cassettes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cassette

1955–60; < French, equivalent to casse “box” ( see case ²) + -ette -ette

Explanation

A cassette is an audiotape, for recording or listening to sound. Before CDs were invented in the 1980s, many people bought their favorite music albums on cassettes. You can use the word cassette to mean an audio or a videotape, though it's more commonly used for something you listen to. To use a cassette, you need a tape player or recorder. Cassette means "little box" in French, and this describes the way it looks, like a small plastic box. The modern meaning came about in 1960.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cassette cassettes

"He was so interested in the poet Tony Harrison. So I gave him a lot more material, including a cassette recording of one of Harrison's latest poems, called V."

From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026

In 1986, Bruce Pavitt was just a music-loving guy putting out a cassette zine and writing a column in Seattle’s bi-weekly music paper, “The Rocket.”

From Salon ● Jun. 9, 2026

A lively, talkative little girl, she spoke fluent Korean at the time, and her adoptive father recorded her on a cassette that then sat gathering dust for years.

From Barron's ● Jun. 4, 2026

“I have cassette demos that I made with a tiny one-track recorder,” she remembers.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026

From a cassette player, a man’s nasal voice chanted verses from the Koran.

From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini

To commemorate the release, Rideaux and Hussle’s team dropped multiple limited edition vinyl records of the album as well as cassettes and T-shirts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

Somewhere in the bowels of my music collection hides 1985’s George Clinton-produced “Freaky Styley” and 1987’s “The Uplift Mofo Party Plan” on crumbling cassettes.

From Salon ● Apr. 4, 2026

Director Spike Lee, with wife Tonya Lewis Lee, showed his distinctive style with a suit featuring a purple fedora hat and matching bow tie, and a bag made of silver cassettes.

From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2026

Richardson slowly began collecting cassettes but after the store closed a few years later, he realized how hard it was to find people to service his tape players.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026

On the morning that we left for Mattru Jong, we loaded our backpacks with notebooks of lyrics we were working on and stuffed our pockets with cassettes of rap albums.

From "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah

Related Words

• tape