tivo

tivo — verb

  • tivopresent simple I / you / we / they
  • tivos3rd person singular
  • tivoing-ing form
  • tivoedpast simple

1. to save a television programme or film in digital form by using a TiVo box or si

1.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

to save a television programme or film in digital form by using a TiVo box or similar DVR device, so that you can watch it later at a time that suits you

Example

Bao tivoed the wildlife documentary so the children could watch it after dinner.

tivo + documentary + purpose clause

Soraya forgot to tivo the series finale and had to search for it online.

Common collocations
  • tivo a documentary
  • tivo a programme
  • tivo a film
  • tivo a match
  • forget to tivo
  • set the timer to tivo
Synonyms
  • record

    the general, formal term for capturing any audio or video; covers all methods, including analogue and digital

  • tape

    older term referring specifically to recording onto VHS or cassette; now feels dated and pre-digital

  • save

    focuses on keeping the digital file on a hard drive or cloud library rather than the act of scheduling the capture

Antonyms
  • delete

    to remove a recorded programme from the DVR's storage

  • miss

    to fail to watch or record a programme, especially because you forgot to set the DVR in time

Grammar Patterns

tivo + noun phrase (a TV programme / a film / a sports match)

Usage Note

Frequently used in informal, everyday conversation about television viewing. Avoid in formal writing — use 'record' instead. The past-tense form 'tivoed' is standard, though 'TiVo'd' and 'TiVoed' also appear in informal writing.

Common Mistakes

I tivoed the meeting on my phone.
I recorded the meeting on my phone.
'tivo' refers specifically to recording television programmes with a DVR device, not to capturing audio or video in general.
She tivoed the concert with her camera.
She filmed the concert with her camera.
'tivo' is for TV / DVR recording, not for personal filming with a camera.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Record is the broadest and most formal verb — it covers any method of capturing audio or video, from analogue to digital. Tape historically referred specifically to recording onto VHS or cassette tape and now often implies an older, pre-digital method. Save is common in the context of digital media libraries and DVRs but focuses on the result (keeping the file) rather than the act of scheduling and capturing. Tivo, by contrast, is informal, brand-derived, and specifically describes using a DVR to capture television broadcasts for later viewing. For example: 'I recorded the concert on my phone' (broad / method-agnostic); 'I taped movies off the TV in the 90s' (dated / analogue); 'I saved the show to my cloud DVR' (digital / storage-focused); 'I tivoed the game while I was at work' (DVR-specific / informal).

record ↗tape ↗save ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • set the timer to tivo
  • forget to tivo
  • remember to tivo

Etymology

English (brand name)English (genericised verb)

The verb 'tivo' comes from the brand name TiVo, a company that began selling digital video recorders (DVRs) in 1999. People started using the brand name as a verb, in the same way that 'google' became a verb for searching online. Over time, 'tivo' broadened to mean recording a TV programme with any DVR device, not just a TiVo-brand machine.