tweak

American  

[tweek] / twik /

verb (used with object)

tweaks, present (3rd person singular) tweaked, past participle, past tweaking present participle

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?

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verb (used without object)

tweaks, present (3rd person singular) tweaked, past participle, past tweaking present participle

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. tweak out

   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. Slang. to 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. Slang. to 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 British  

/ twiːk /

verb

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

   to tweak someone's nose

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

3. informal to make a minor alteration

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noun

1. an instance of tweaking

2. informal a minor alteration

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• tweaker
  noun
• tweaky
  adjective

Conjugated Forms

Present

• has tweaked
  perfect 3rd person singular
• have tweaked
  perfect
• is tweaking
  progressive 3rd person singular
• are tweaking
  progressive
• has been tweaking
  perfect progressive 3rd person singular
• have been tweaking
  perfect progressive
• am tweaking
  progressive 1st person singular
• tweaks
  singular 3rd person
• tweaking
  participle

Past

• had tweaked
  perfect
• were tweaking
  progressive plural
• was tweaking
  progressive singular
• had been tweaking
  perfect progressive
• tweaked
  participle
• tweaked
  simple

Future

• will tweak
  simple
• will have tweaked
  perfect
• will be tweaking
  progressive
• will have been tweaking
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of tweak

First recorded in 1595–1605; akin to twitch

Explanation

When you tweak something, you pinch it or twist it. You may have a doting aunt who thinks you're still two years old and can't resist tweaking your nose every time she sees you. Tweak also means to adjust or fine-tune. When you finish writing a paper, it's a good idea to go back through one last time, to tweak it and make sure it's absolutely perfect. So when you tweak something or give something a tweak, you're making little adjustments, you’re not rewriting your paper or tossing it out and starting all over again.

Example Sentences

In 2018, Chinese scientist He Jianku said he used Crispr to tweak DNA in human embryos and was imprisoned for the work.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026

If there is personal information in there, Charlie will "tweak it" so the AI tool "gets a picture... but then it can't really use that to identify you".

From Barron's • Jun. 4, 2026

Here are five ways to shop smart and tweak your menu to help stretch your budget for the holiday weekend — and all your summer cookouts.

From MarketWatch • May 22, 2026

To make the most of Gyokeres' ability to run behind the opposition defence, Arteta decided to make a tactical tweak to be more direct.

From BBC • May 19, 2026

“You just said it was only one tweak right now,” Ben-Ben says, smiling.

From "A High Five for Glenn Burke" by Phil Bildner

Related Words

• tease
• twist