Meaning of red tape | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The binding tape once used for holding important documents together.
   uncountable
2. Time-consuming regulations or bureaucratic procedures.
   idiomatic, metonymically, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“The use⟳ of red tape for tying up papers is of considerable antiquity. An advertisement in the Public Intelligencer, December 6, 1658, offers the reward⟳ for a restoration of a 'A little bundle of papers tied with a red tape, were lost on Friday last⟳ was a sevennight, between Worcester House and Lincoln's Inn.”

“At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come⟳ out. They do not eat⟳ parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat⟳ the luncheon crumbs.”

“All the red tape and paperwork that goes on there prevents any progress⟳.”

“That committee does not cut⟳ through red tape ; it merely provides better scheduling for different agencies so you do not have⟳ sequential review⟳ by different agencies , so that you have⟳ some kind of simultaneity in the review⟳ by different agencies.”

“One conspicuous cost⟳ of the compromise reached was a promise⟳ made by Senator Chuck Schumer to Manchin on what was vaguely called permitting reform⟳: a catchall phrase referring to a whole host⟳ of efforts to cut⟳ red tape and ease the rollout of energy infrastructure.”

“They said we’d be free of all that tedious European red tape and would take⟳ back control⟳ of our borders, encouraging anyone agitated by immigration to believe⟳ that fewer people would come⟳ in. […] Post-Brexit red tape is strangling thousands of small businesses, whether travelling musicians or exporters of goods, tying them up in daunting forms or extra charges that cost⟳ time and money they don’t have⟳.”

CEFR level