recalibrate
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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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.
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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:
Burnham's opponents are having to recalibrate and work through how they take on a new prime minister.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 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
People have to recalibrate their lifestyles, regardless of income level.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
But so is the likelihood that the path from here to there is uneven — and that markets may need to recalibrate along the way.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 15, 2026
‘If we make the damage too obvious, we’ll never get to the other ones in time. Can you recalibrate the aim - like, towards the other onagers’ firing lines?’
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
Treasury yields eased as oil prices fell 3% and markets recalibrated the outlook for U.S. interest rates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
To investigate further, researchers recalibrated radiocarbon dates connected to the human remains.
From Science Daily ● May 13, 2026
Other companies have recalibrated their relationships with Amazon.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 6, 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
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
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
The sharp move higher in oil prices on Monday has U.S. traders recalibrating their interest-rate outlook for the rest of 2026.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 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
According to him, India's air quality framework hasn't been comprehensively revised since 2009, and he, along with other environmental scientists and activists have called for recalibrating the scale based on the latest technology.
From BBC ● Nov. 15, 2025
This was Beethoven's great significance, not through form or musical language, but in recalibrating what music was for.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
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.
