tweak

[ tweek ]

/ twik /

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See synonyms for: tweak / tweaked / tweaking on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object)

to pinch and pull with a jerk and twist: She playfully tweaked his ear.I tweaked my bowtie again, but it stayed stubbornly crooked.

to pull or pinch the nose of, especially gently: He leaned over the stroller and tweaked the baby affectionately.

to make a minor adjustment to: Bad hardware can't be fixed by tweaking the software.

to annoy, tease, or make fun of: How much of her “dumb blonde” image was actually a brilliant performer tweaking the stuffed shirts?

verb (used without object)

Slang.

to use methamphetamine, cocaine, or other stimulant drugs: He'll try to avoid taking a drug test if he's been tweaking and toking.
to engage in wildly excited or agitated behavior under the influence of such drugs (usually followed by out): If I'd seen someone else acting this way I would have thought they were tweaking on meth.

noun

an act or instance of tweaking; a sharp, twisting pull or jerk: "Thought it was you," she said, greeting him with a tweak on the nose.

a minor adjustment: Here are 12 simple tweaks to speed up your computer.

Verb Phrases

tweak out,

to extract by pinching and pulling with a jerk, as with tweezers: In a twinkling she had tweaked out a dozen hairs and put them in an evidence bag.
to remove (defects or unwanted features) by means of a minor adjustment: You have a couple of bugs to tweak out from your website, but you’re on the right track.
to effect (an improvement) by means of minor adjustments: They were able to tweak out some pretty hefty performance improvements to the sound system.
to optimize in this way: My operating system isn’t tweaked out the way I like, but it's running, stable enough, and ready for use.
Slang. to engage in wildly excited or agitated behavior under the influence of methamphetamine, cocaine, or other stimulant drugs: She grabbed a knife and waved it around while tweaking out on crystal meth.He showed up shirtless and barefoot, tweaked out on cocaine.
Slang. to make or become wildly excited or agitated; freak (someone) out: I decided not to tell my kids what I’d done so they wouldn't tweak out about it.

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of tweak

First recorded in 1595–1605; akin to twitch

OTHER WORDS FROM tweak

tweak·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use tweak in a sentence

Using various tweaks to the soft labels, they could get the kNN algorithm to draw precise patterns in the shape of flowers.
A radical new technique lets AI learn with practically no data|Karen Hao|October 16, 2020|MIT Technology Review
So far, BuzzFeed has tried to chip away at the problem with product tweaks and new site features.
‘Game-time decisions on a daily basis’: How BuzzFeed is preparing for a more responsive holiday shopping season|Max Willens|October 12, 2020|Digiday
The tweaks meant more money for Dominion, because state law guarantees utilities roughly 10% profit on construction projects.
Inside the Utility Company Lobbying Blitz That Will Hike Electric Bills|by Patrick Wilson, Richmond Times-Dispatch|October 9, 2020|ProPublica
Rather than fully characterizing how molecular circuits work together, machine learning can extract trends from experimental data, and in turn provide predictions on how a synthetic biology tweak changes a cell.
How Machine Learning Made Hops-Free Hoppy Beer (and Other SynBio Wonders) Possible|Shelly Fan|October 6, 2020|Singularity Hub

The House bill makes several tweaks to the direct payments or stimulus checks.
‘Very, very far apart’: Pelosi and Mnuchin fail to reach a deal on bill including stimulus checks and enhanced unemployment|Lance Lambert|September 30, 2020|Fortune
Almost every aspect of it has been tweaked and most of it has been radically changed.
PlayStation 4 Review: The PS4 and the Gorgeous Next Generation of Gaming|Alec Kubas-Meyer|November 15, 2013|DAILY BEAST
He tweaked his racquet size, the tennis equivalent of flailing in the water.
Roger Federer’s U.S. Open Defeat Was Bad, but He’s Not Dead Yet|Sujay Kumar|September 3, 2013|DAILY BEAST
A joint goes around, and one of my pals was bogarting it—he took a hit that got him so tweaked he forgot to pass it.
Getting a Mile High: Legally Stoned in Colorado After Initiative 64|Winston Ross|January 19, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The company is being tweaked for its relatively measly investment in U.S. manufacturing.
A Little Apple Goes a Long Way|Daniel Gross|December 9, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Lehrer is the first to say that there is room for improvement and that the format should be “tweaked.”
Jim Lehrer: ‘I Have No Apologies’ for My Debate Moderator Performance|Howard Kurtz|October 5, 2012|DAILY BEAST
(groans) and tweaked their ugly noses, and whispered through the keyhole, "Wait till you guard the Christmas pie to-night!"
Christmas Entertainments|Alice Maude Kellogg
I ought to get down on my knees and beg your pardon for the sly pinches I gave you, and the times I tweaked your curly hair.
A Little Girl in Old Salem|Amanda Minnie Douglas
And when Milton was unable to laugh, the old man tweaked his ear with his leathery thumb and finger.
Other Main-Travelled Roads|Hamlin Garland
He tweaked the string and his tweak was met with uncompromising resistance.
The Incredible Honeymoon|E. Nesbit
But not a feather was tweaked out, or even disturbed, that I could see.
Riverby|John Burroughs

British Dictionary definitions for tweak

tweak

/ (twiːk) /

verb (tr)

to twist, jerk, or pinch with a sharp or sudden movementto tweak someone's nose

motor racing slang to tune (a car or engine) for peak performance

informal to make a minor alteration

noun

an instance of tweaking

informal a minor alteration

Derived forms of tweak

tweaky, adjective

Word Origin for tweak

Old English twiccian; related to Old High German zwecchōn; see twitch

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

tweak

Origin of tweak

OTHER WORDS FROM tweak

Words related to tweak

How to use tweak in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for tweak

Derived forms of tweak

Word Origin for tweak