fine-tune
Americanverb (used with object)
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fine-tunes,
present (3rd person singular)
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fine-tuned,
past participle, past
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fine-tuning
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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fine-tunesimple
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fine-tunessimple
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have fine-tunedperfect
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has fine-tunedperfect
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am fine-tuningprogressive
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are fine-tuningprogressive
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is fine-tuningprogressive
-
have been fine-tuningperfect progressive
-
has been fine-tuningperfect progressive
Past
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fine-tunedsimple
-
had fine-tunedperfect
-
was fine-tuningprogressive
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were fine-tuningprogressive
-
had been fine-tuningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fine-tune
First recorded in 1920–25
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
This process of using an existing model to fine-tune a new one is called distillation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
They can also make synapses more or less responsive, helping fine-tune communication within brain circuits.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 1, 2026
The company has changed out 75% of its assortment of decorative accessories, a move that has attracted customers, but management cited a need to fine-tune the home section.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
A 4-2 defeat to Real Sociedad on Tuesday will irritate their perfectionist head coach, but there is plenty of time for him to fine-tune the Europa League holders before the start of the new campaign.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Whatever Palmer learned, he fed back to the show’s producers and writers, so they could fine-tune the material accordingly.
From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
The agency fine-tunes its employment estimates every year.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026
Alibaba’s Qwen family alone accounts for 69% of new fine-tunes, while Meta’s Llama has collapsed from 44% to 11%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Using placebo pain relief, they discovered a map-like system that fine-tunes pain control for specific regions, such as the face, arms, or legs.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 4, 2025
“I just feel like this woman has a little bit of mystery and strength,” Althouse says, as Soria fine-tunes the woman’s leg.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2025
"Tell me what you buy and I'll tell you who you are"-mug shots of all of us are taken continuously, by extremely inventive digital devices, while the market fine-tunes us.
From The Civilization of Illiteracy by Mihai Nadin
These AI versions can be fine-tuned by clients for specific needs on in-house infrastructure, and used at a fraction of the cost.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
"This shows we can have incredibly fine-tuned control of sound, which might mean that devices that use sound as a fundamental technology can get much better," he said.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
He specialized in pretraining, the initial steps of feeding massive amounts of text, images and code to the models before they can be fine-tuned for specific tasks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Ukraine began its drone campaign against Russian refineries and energy infrastructure about a year ago, but it has since fine-tuned the attacks, which are now more damaging, Columbia’s Mitrova said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
Nowadays the humans had instruments for measuring anything, so if there was any time-stopping to be done, it had better be fine-tuned and precise.
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
"It's all about fine-tuning and making sure it's going to be an even slice," said Sweet, who studies biological sciences.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2026
The company said it is taking a multipronged approach to keep up its growth, focusing on new products and its international business while fine-tuning its commercialization strategy in the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Instead of rushing out an album after the pandemic, Anthrax took their time writing and fine-tuning new songs before entering Dave Grohl’s Studio 606 in L.A. in 2022.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
Part of Anderson’s main focus in the months ahead would be fine-tuning the chain’s current discount offerings, Kempczinski said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026
If the Web was devastatingly efficient at displaying maps on a screen, it needed some fine-tuning when it came to capturing the scale and feel of a place.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
