tweaking

[twee-king]

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.

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of tweaking¹

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

Example Sentences

After a few rounds of tweaking, the annual cap on new applications was set at 85,000, including 20,000 holders of advanced degrees from U.S. universities.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

But Prof Waters said it was "not a new system", and was instead a "cosmetic rebranding, tweaking and expansion of the same unreliable and punishing system as the one before".

Read more on BBC

"Over time, this can chip away at self-esteem, making people feel inadequate unless they're constantly tweaking or reshaping themselves."

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For Sargento, it took a full decade of R&D. Ten years of trying, tweaking and trying again.

Read more on Salon

Ministers say it will be up to food retailers to decide how they do that, but it could involve offering promotions on healthy food, tweaking loyalty points to incentivise healthy options, or changing shop layouts.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• tease 
• twist