attune
Americanverb (used with object)
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attunes,
present (3rd person singular)
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attuned,
past participle, past
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attuning
present participle
verb
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to adjust or accustom (a person or thing); acclimatize
-
to tune (a musical instrument)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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attunesimple
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attunessimple
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have attunedperfect
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has attunedperfect
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am attuningprogressive
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are attuningprogressive
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is attuningprogressive
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have been attuningperfect progressive
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has been attuningperfect progressive
Past
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attunedsimple
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had attunedperfect
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was attuningprogressive
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were attuningprogressive
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had been attuningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of attune
Explanation
When you attune to something, you adjust to it and become aware of the way it works. A new parent has to attune to a baby's schedule and personality. Preschool teachers need to attune to their students' various needs and interests, and when you visit a foreign country it's important to attune to the unfamiliar culture, so that you're both comfortable and respectful. The verb attune is almost always followed by "to," and it often shows up in the form of "be attuned to." Attune comes from tune, "bring into a state of proper pitch."
Vocabulary lists containing attune
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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:
But it also taps into the precision with which her books ask the reader to attune themselves to her characters’ realities, even if the most we can capture of them is merely a shadow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2022
The more the community is represented in meetings, and in discussions in general, Barlet feels, the more attune the whole group is to its needs.
From The Verge ● Jul. 15, 2022
I am learning to attune my senses to subtleties.
From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2021
Sahm said voters are especially attune to rising gas prices but generally “there are other things consumers care far more about.”
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 18, 2021
He ceased; and then gan all the quire of birds Their divers notes to attune unto his lay, As in approvance of his pleasing wordes.
From Hazlitt on English Literature An Introduction to the Appreciation of Literature by Jacob Zeitlin
But as the book went on I realized it wasn’t really written for readers like me, but rather for those whose culture attunes them to the idea that death is a porous border.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2023
“Escape from Alcatraz,” like “A Man Escaped,” opens with a period title card and the arrival of a prisoner, and it quickly attunes viewers to the sound of footsteps and shackles.
From New York Times ● May 14, 2020
Understanding, anticipating, and responding to change is at the heart of science fiction—envisioning ourselves amid the strange and the fantastic attunes us to the unexpected and helps us chart a course to a better future.
From Slate ● Apr. 10, 2020
Before long, the algorithm can detect a “p” sound across multiple languages, and exposure to those languages further attunes its senses.
From Time ● Mar. 24, 2015
As when the months are clad in flowery green, Sad Philomel, in bowery shades unseen, To vernal airs attunes her varied strains; And Itylus sounds warbling o'er the plains; Young Itylus, his parents' darling joy!
From The Odyssey by Alexander Pope
Donahue said millennial and Gen Z couples are attuned to the messiness of divorce after witnessing what their parents’ generation endured.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Rather, it is about becoming attuned to their characteristics and developing a gut feeling.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
In 2010, scholars were becoming attuned to something known as the “invisible primary.”
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2026
But that’s not necessarily the best value—it’s in companies trading on local exchanges and more attuned to the country’s growth drivers, along with some multinational technology companies.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
But even men far tougher and more attuned to the wilderness than Thoreau were sobered by its strange and palpable menace.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
For centuries the finest medical minds harped on attuning a balance among the four humors—sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic—in tender young constitutions by adjusting the proportions of hot-cold and moist-dry elements in the diet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Goodman is credited with attuning it to New Age sensibilities and turning astrology from a niche interest into a pop-culture juggernaut.
From Slate ● May 5, 2026
My attention span is so bad lately that it really is just me closing my eyes and composing emails that I’ll forget to send rather than attuning to some higher power.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2025
She was an artist not just adept at expressing her own vulnerabilities, but attuning to those of her listeners.
From Salon ● Mar. 28, 2025
He tried to analyze himself and his relation to affairs outside himself, but his psychological attuning was pitched only to such an agony as cries for outlet.
From The Tempering by Charles Neville Buck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
