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View synonyms for

tweak

[tweek]

verb (used with object)

  1. to pinch and pull with a jerk and twist.

    She playfully tweaked his ear.

    I tweaked my bowtie again, but it stayed stubbornly crooked.

  2. to pull or pinch the nose of, especially gently.

    He leaned over the stroller and tweaked the baby affectionately.

  3. to make a minor adjustment to.

    Bad hardware can't be fixed by tweaking the software.

  4. to annoy, tease, or make fun of.

    How much of her “dumb blonde” image was actually a brilliant performer tweaking the stuffed shirts?



verb (used without object)

  1. Slang.

    1. to use methamphetamine, cocaine, or other stimulant drugs.

      He'll try to avoid taking a drug test if he's been tweaking and toking.

    2. to engage in wildly excited or agitated behavior under the influence of such drugs (usually followed byout ).

      If I'd seen someone else acting this way I would have thought they were tweaking on meth.

noun

  1. an act or instance of tweaking; a sharp, twisting pull or jerk.

    "Thought it was you," she said, greeting him with a tweak on the nose.

  2. a minor adjustment.

    Here are 12 simple tweaks to speed up your computer.

verb phrase

    1. to extract by pinching and pulling with a jerk, as with tweezers.

      In a twinkling she had tweaked out a dozen hairs and put them in an evidence bag.

    2. to remove (defects or unwanted features) by means of a minor adjustment.

      You have a couple of bugs to tweak out from your website, but you’re on the right track.

    3. to effect (an improvement) by means of minor adjustments.

      They were able to tweak out some pretty hefty performance improvements to the sound system.

    4. to optimize in this way.

      My operating system isn’t tweaked out the way I like, but it's running, stable enough, and ready for use.

    5. Slangto engage in wildly excited or agitated behavior under the influence of methamphetamine, cocaine, or other stimulant drugs.

      She grabbed a knife and waved it around while tweaking out on crystal meth.

      He showed up shirtless and barefoot, tweaked out on cocaine.

    6. Slangto make or become wildly excited or agitated; freak (someone) out.

      I decided not to tell my kids what I’d done so they wouldn't tweak out about it.

tweak

/ ٷɾː /

verb

  1. to twist, jerk, or pinch with a sharp or sudden movement

    to tweak someone's nose

  2. slangmotor racing to tune (a car or engine) for peak performance

  3. informalto make a minor alteration

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. an instance of tweaking

  2. informala minor alteration

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Other Word Forms

  • tweaker noun
  • ˈٷɱ𲹰 adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of tweak1

First recorded in 1595–1605; akin to twitch
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Word History and Origins

Origin of tweak1

Old English twiccian ; related to Old High German ɱ𳦳ō ; see twitch
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

In Canada, McLaren introduced a small tweak to the suspension geometry, around where the upper wishbone meets the front wheel, in an attempt increase feel.

From

“It was quite exhausting, but also quite fun creatively because you could see how much the tone of the scene changed when we tweaked the voice-over a little bit,” Skarsgård says.

From

For each fragrance, one of them takes “point” — for instance, on Garden Heaux, Lawrence acted as the perfumer and Lin as the fragrance evaluator, deciding whether the scent needed tweaking.

From

The eighth is down on the scorecard as a 289-yard hole, but tweaks to the tee box and pin position will extend it to a record distance.

From

The former West Indies chief executive even suggested bolder proposals to get the game done within a four-day timeframe - including tweaking the number of balls in an over.

From

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