Synonyms for red tape
- bureaucracy
- authority
- bureaucratic paperwork
- city hall
- government
- management
- official forms
- official procedures
- officialdom
- officialism
- paper shuffling
- powers that be
- proper channels
- regulatory commission
- the Establishment
- the system
EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR RED TAPE
"It seems to me we're going through a lot of red tape," she said spitefully.
They think to shave my locks; show me to the people bound by their red tape.
He tried it, and now he scratched the apparent size of the star into the red tape.
I've been meaning to see you, so I volunteered to run out some red tape for your captain.
We have already unraveled yards of red tape, and still there is no end.
What is called "red tape" stood in the way of prompt action.
Hence the necessity of red tape, and its delays and vexatious inconveniences.
His method of achieving the ideal seems to me too full of red tape.
They were men of spirit and initiative, (p. 421) not easily to be bound by red tape.
In this manner, at least we avoid a great amount of red tape and delay.
WORD ORIGIN
"excessive bureaucratic rigmarole," 1736, in reference to the red tape formerly used in Great Britain (and the American colonies) for binding up legal and other official documents, mentioned from 1690s.