fine-tune
Americanverb (used with object)
-
fine-tunes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
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
-
fine-tunesimple
-
fine-tunessimple
-
have fine-tunedperfect
-
has fine-tunedperfect
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am fine-tuningprogressive
-
are fine-tuningprogressive
-
is fine-tuningprogressive
-
have been fine-tuningperfect progressive
-
has been fine-tuningperfect progressive
Past
-
fine-tunedsimple
-
had fine-tunedperfect
-
was fine-tuningprogressive
-
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:
Bakery downtown quickly evolved into a network of trusted advisors, who helped shape her campaign promises and fine-tune policy proposals so they could be executed on day one.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
Disney can make any changes during the process and fine-tune the video.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026
McDermott - with no mid-season international or warm-up matches to fine-tune a style of play - has produced improvements.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
This process of using an existing model to fine-tune a new one is called distillation.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Maybe I need to go fine-tune my theory.
From "Winger" by Andrew Smith
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
The authoritative voice we associate with Picard ordering his tea “Earl Grey, hot,” was fine-tuned over a career that began with training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, where he enrolled in 1957.
From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026
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
With all the data available after the race, we fine-tuned a little bit the set-up around that new spec.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
I didn’t just listen, I fine-tuned my listener.
From "Silent To The Bone" by E.L. Konigsburg
And, in general, companies have become more comfortable with customizing, or fine-tuning, open models.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
With only minimal fine-tuning, the optical processor achieved 94.80% accuracy and 97.61% sensitivity on previously unseen VEO-3 videos during experiments.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 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
With a little fine-tuning, a model can pilot a robot in the real world as if it were a character in a videogame.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Percy and Annabeth went ashore to scout while Leo stayed on the quarterdeck, fine-tuning the control console.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
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