Word.ws English Dictionary

taper

UK/ˈteɪpə//ˈteɪpɚ/

taper noun: a slender wax candle. Also the ellipsis of machine taper.

taper: a slender wax candle
Image: Guillaume Paumier, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

taper (plural tapers)

  1. A slender wax candle.
    • Strike on the Tinder, hoa:
      Giue me a Taper […]c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
    • Take not away the Taper, leaue it burning […]1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
  2. (broadly) A small light.
  3. A tapering form; gradual diminution of thickness and/or cross section in an elongated object.
    • the taper of a spire
    • The legs of the table had a slight taper to them.
  4. The portion of an object with such a form.
    • ensuring the cleanliness of the taper of a machine tool spindle or of a tool shank
  5. (historical) A long wick or thin stick used for transferring flames to candles, now usually chemically-treated to burn particularly slowly.
    Synonyms:
    spill, match, spunk
  6. A cone-shaped item for stretching the hole for an ear gauge (piercing).
  7. (figuratively) Gradual reduction over time.
    • a drug taper

Verb

taper (third-person singular simple present tapers, present participle tapering, simple past and past participle tapered)

  1. (transitive) To make thinner or narrower at one end.
    • Though true cylinders without — within, the villainous green goggling glasses deceitfully tapered downwards to a cheating bottom.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 3”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC
  2. (intransitive) To become thinner or narrower at one end.
    • Like other supertall towers, 432 Park relies on the counterweight system to address the forces of wind and reduce the feeling of swaying for residents. But unlike many other supertall towers that are tiered or taper toward the top, 432 Park is rectangular, making it less aerodynamic.2025 October 19, “A Tower on Billionaires’ Row Is Full of Cracks. Who’s to Blame?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
  3. (ambitransitive) To diminish gradually.
    • Current major clinical practice guidelines provide little support for clinicians wishing to help patients discontinue or taper antidepressants in terms of mitigating and managing withdrawal symptoms.2022 November 2, Anders Sørensen, Karsten Juhl Jørgensen, Klaus Munkholm, “Clinical practice guideline recommendations on tapering and discontinuing antidepressants for depression: a systematic...
  4. (intransitive) To tighten monetary policy.

Adjective

taper

  1. Tapered; narrowing to a point.

Noun (2)

taper (plural tapers)

  1. One who operates a tape machine.
  2. Someone who works with tape or tapes.

Also used as

taper is also the ellipsis of machine taper.

taper meaning in Odia and Malay

taper in Odia

ଟେପର, ଟେପର୍

taper in Malay

to become thinner or narrower at one end
runcing, runjung

Examples of taper in a sentence

  • He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.1813 August 13, Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Isaac McPherson:
  • Her hair hangs over her ears and flows to a taper at the back of her neck where it is held in place with a wide and circular black clasp.2005, Michael Ellis, Apollo Rises, page 15:

All 40 example sentences with taper

Synonyms of taper

Forms of taper

Noun
pluraltapers
Verb
third-person singular presenttapers
present participletapering
past participletapered
pasttapered

Past tense of taper: tapered

Plural of taper: tapers

Origin of taper

From Middle English taper, from Old English tapor (“taper, candle, wick of a lamp”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Latin papyrus (“papyrus", used in Mediaeval times to mean "wick of a candle”); If so, it is a doublet of papyrus; but compare Old French taper (“taper, slender candle or light”). Alternatively, of Celtic origin related to Irish tapar (“taper”), Welsh tampr (“a taper, torch”); further compare Sanskrit तपती (tápati, “(it) warms, gives out heat, is hot; (it) heats”). More at tepid. First attested before the 12th c.

From tape + -er.

Words formed from taper

Phrases with taper

Words that rhyme with taper

3 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about taper

What does taper mean?
Taper means a slender wax candle.
What is taper in Odia?
Taper in Odia is ଟେପର, ଟେପର୍. See Taper meaning in Odia.
How do you use taper in a sentence?
He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.
What part of speech is taper?
Taper can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce taper?
Taper is pronounced /ˈteɪpə/ (UK).
What is the plural of taper?
The plural of taper is tapers.

Words near taper in the dictionary

  1. tapenade
  2. tapenades
  3. tapentadol
  4. tapeout
  5. tapeouts
  6. taper
  7. taper candle
  8. taper candles
  9. taper fade
  10. taper fades
  11. taper off

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taper (page history and authors); taper (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-taper.ogg, en-au-taper.ogg.

Cite this entry: “taper.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/taper. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.