: of, relating to, or utilizing magnetic tape that requires threading on a take-up reel
a reel-to-reel tape recorder

Examples of reel-to-reel in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
And Scher had the proof: the Ampex reel-to-reel tape the custodian had made of the show, handed over to Scher as promised. David Kushner, Rolling Stone, 20 July 2025 In early 1951 and 1952, Guthrie recorded these songs himself using one microphone on a reel-to-reel tape machine at his family’s two-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn, New York. Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 14 July 2025 From an office at the Blue Morocco, a sound engineer recorded the iconic Hoosier trumpeter and his band on 7-inch reel-to-reel tapes. Domenica Bongiovanni, IndyStar, 3 July 2025 In 2008, well into adulthood, Seed discovered a stash of reel-to-reel audiotapes — hours and hours of interviews her mother conducted in the early 1970s with 10 celebrated photographers, including Henri Cartier-Bresson. Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 19 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for reel-to-reel

Word History

First Known Use

1961, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of reel-to-reel was in 1961

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Cite this Entry

“Reel-to-reel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reel-to-reel. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.

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