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 by out ):

      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. 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

/ 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

noun

1. an instance of tweaking
2. informal.
   a minor alteration

Derived Forms

• ˈtweaky, adjective

Other Words From

• tweak·er noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of tweak¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; akin to twitch

Word History and Origins

Origin of tweak¹

Old English twiccian ; related to Old High German zwecchōn ; see twitch

Example Sentences

Fortunately, scientists are already making those tweaks, by developing finer-grained computer models that do a better job capturing how the atmosphere churns in real life.

From Science News

If not, you’ll have to play around with the above tweaks to get things close enough.

From Popular-Science

That genetic tweak merely supplied a marker that would identify irradiated insects but didn’t change any fertility genes.

From Science News

They’re also working on tweaks to the manufacturing process to boost speeds and bring down costs.

From Singularity Hub 

From lighting tricks to background arrangements to your intonation, we cover all the small tweaks you can make to have a big impact in our new virtual meeting rooms.

From Quartz

Paul has advised that America should resist those who want to “tweak Russia all the time.”

From The Daily Beast

But they do need to tweak the formula so that it stays relevant.

From The Daily Beast

Juicy J claims the label wanted them to tweak their sound, transitioning from their crunk roots to more pop-oriented material.

From The Daily Beast

Which is to say, it would probably be easy for companies to slightly tweak what they are doing and go on paying very little tax.

From The Daily Beast

He was ready to tweak the cost-of-living formula for Social Security.

From The Daily Beast

She had traveled the world; she had danced with kings, and had made two popes laugh and tweak her pointed chin.

From Project Gutenberg

He tweaked the string and his tweak was met with uncompromising resistance.

From Project Gutenberg

Brown had never disclosed the brutal delinquency of Long Bill Tweak.

From Project Gutenberg

"I guess they were, old man," returned Roger, leaning forward to tweak his ear affectionately.

From Project Gutenberg

No, by heavens, I would tweak the nose of a small sprig of royalty itself.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• tease
• twist