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
-
has fine-tunedperfect
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am fine-tuningprogressive
-
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:
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
If AI can help fine-tune the design of a clinical trial to improve its chances of success, that could end up being a big benefit, Soriot says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
"GLM-5.2 is free to download, fine-tune, and run on an enterprise's own servers, putting pricing pressure on frontier labs at the same time that access looks shaky," AI analyst Andrew Curran noted.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
DeMaio filed for the ballot initiative in 2021 and 2023, but did not move forward with the signature collection process in order to fine-tune the ballot language.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2026
Instruments that can bend most pitches enough to fine-tune them during a performance — and this includes most orchestral instruments — also tend to play the "pure" intervals.
From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones
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
"It's like a nutrient that fine-tunes how your body reads your genes," she said.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 7, 2026
“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
Lazio, meanwhile, is on the upswing as Sarri’s squad fine-tunes his intricate passing schemes.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 6, 2022
"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 Nadin, Mihai
Hodgkinson returned to winning ways by beating Broeders-Bol at the London Diamond League last month and has since fine-tuned her preparations in Portugal with her team.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
And through his new scientific network, he met a professor at the University of Queensland able to administer the fine-tuned treatment.
From Barron's ● Mar. 30, 2026
Germany’s export model needs to be fine-tuned, not thrown out, she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 23, 2026
He is known to invest over $1.5 million annually for a comprehensive approach to keeping his body fine-tuned.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2026
Ray’s instincts are fine-tuned, because as soon as Byrd gives the okay, he tears toward the woods.
From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers
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
That raw information allows anyone to run a model on specialized hardware and to build on top of the model, altering its weights with additional data in a process called fine-tuning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
Already, McDaniel has done some tinkering and fine-tuning, tweaking Herbert’s footwork out of the shotgun formation to allow him to get the ball out of his hands a fraction of a second earlier.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
It was a poor percentage given the meticulous planning, expenses spared and fine-tuning details applied to this tournament.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 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
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.
