tweaking

American  

[twee-king] / ˈtwi kɪŋ /

noun

1. the act of pinching and pulling something with a jerk and twist.

   A slight tweaking of his lips and a furrowing of his brow expressed his disapproval.

2. the act of making minor adjustments to something.

   A mere tweaking of some bit of technology is not going to fix this massive problem.

3. the act of annoying, teasing, or making fun of someone.

   The movie seems like it might be an affectionate tweaking of the nerd generation.

4. Slang. the act of using methamphetamine, cocaine, or other stimulant drugs, or of behaving wildly or erratically under their influence (usually followed byout ).

   Why do people take stuff they’re "not sure of" and then complain about tweaking out—or worse, ending up in the hospital?

5. Slang. the act of behaving or causing someone to behave in a wildly excited or agitated manner (usually followed byout ); freaking out.

   What with his tweaking out over every little mistake, the boss hasn’t been anyone's hero of late.

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adjective

1. making minor adjustments to something.

   I’m so happy with the sound—a huge antidote for me coming from the ever tweaking, never satisfied audiophile world.

2. Slang. behaving in a wildly excited or agitated manner, especially as an effect of using methamphetamine, cocaine, or other stimulant drugs.

   He was pacing around and bursting in and out of emotional fits like a tweaking junkie.

3. Slang. (used as an intensifier).

   What kind of a tweaking idiot would do that?

adverb

1. Slang. (used as an intensifier).

   These fudge brownies are tweaking amazing.

Etymology

Origin of tweaking

First recorded in 1610–20; tweak + -ing ¹ for the noun senses; tweak + -ing ² for the adjective and adverb senses

Example Sentences

"By tweaking the spacing and height of the nanopillars, we discovered how tightly they are packed together is far more important than how tall they are for breaking viruses apart," Mah said.

From Science Daily • Apr. 22, 2026

Back then, TV “friction” meant tweaking the rabbit ears with tin foil or asking your uncle to hold the antenna until the fourth quarter was done.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026

In the long term, policies that make it easier to check the boxes of a middle-class existence, from buying a house to sending a kid to college, beat tweaking the tax code.

From Slate • Mar. 25, 2026

Since the defeat in Lisbon in January, Arbeloa has made some changes, including tweaking Real's formation.

From BBC • Feb. 17, 2026

As Nichols understood, once the plant entered the production phase, what was needed was unquestioning operation, not ceaseless tweaking.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Related Words

• tease
• twist