recalibrate
Americanverb (used with or without object)
-
to correct or adjust the gradations or settings on (a measuring instrument, sensor, or other piece of precision equipment).
If your battery fuel gauge is still inaccurate after following these steps, you may need to manually recalibrate the gauge.
-
to reexamine (one’s thinking, a plan, a system of values, etc.) and correct it in accord with a new understanding or purpose.
This is a government that's out of touch and refusing to recalibrate after getting a clear message from voters.
Etymology
Origin of recalibrate
Explanation
To recalibrate is to adjust the settings on a device that precisely measures, senses, or moves. You might have to recalibrate your thermostat in order for it to accurately tell you how hot or cold it is in your apartment. When a precision instrument is first set up, it's finely adjusted to be as accurate as possible, a process called calibration. Whenever it needs fine-tuning, someone must recalibrate it, bringing it back to accuracy. This is true for scientific instruments, bathroom scales, barometers, and more. If your baking scale seems off, you may want to recalibrate it. This word is from calibrate, originally "determine the caliber of," a reference to measuring the inside of a gun barrel."
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:
He uses agents, but every few months has to recalibrate his work around their rapidly evolving capabilities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
New Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh is set to hold his first press conference, where he expected to recalibrate Fed policy and communication.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
“Normally there’d be a current charting trap or rap song, but there’s something about that song that I think makes you recalibrate how you’re looking at the scene in general.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
A traditional adviser managing hundreds of clients cannot recalibrate each portfolio in real time as a client’s income, spending habits or retirement timeline shifts.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 1, 2026
My own brain was much harder to recalibrate.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
To investigate further, researchers recalibrated radiocarbon dates connected to the human remains.
From Science Daily ● May 13, 2026
So, on the cusp of turning 30, he retreated to Italy, recalibrated his life and took up marathon running.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2026
Those models are by no means perfect—and they’re constantly getting refined and recalibrated.
From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026
They have also recalibrated things like production, costs and product design to manage the impact of tariffs.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 20, 2026
I look up to answer my final question, and that’s when I notice something at the end of the long rec room, now that my vision has recalibrated itself.
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
As a result, Wall Street is recalibrating expectations for the rest of the hyperscalers.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
There’s a balance every politician must strike: retaining one’s authenticity while remaining open to recalibrating policy positions in response to new evidence or simply evolving, or to match shifts in the public mood.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
After recalibrating the data, the team found that emissions from land had been significantly overestimated in earlier models, but even after correction, land remained the dominant source.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2026
Cognitive scientists have investigated whether the brain itself is Bayesian—a probabilistic inference engine, perpetually recalibrating, merging incoming sensory data with past experience.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026
My mind must still be recalibrating from the Cog removal.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
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.
