tweaking
Americannoun
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the act of pinching and pulling something with a jerk and twist.
A slight tweaking of his lips and a furrowing of his brow expressed his disapproval.
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the act of making minor adjustments to something.
A mere tweaking of some bit of technology is not going to fix this massive problem.
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the act of annoying, teasing, or making fun of someone.
The movie seems like it might be an affectionate tweaking of the nerd generation.
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Slang. the act of using methamphetamine, cocaine, or other stimulant drugs, or of behaving wildly or erratically under their influence (usually followed byout ).
Why do people take stuff they’re "not sure of" and then complain about tweaking out—or worse, ending up in the hospital?
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Slang. the act of behaving or causing someone to behave in a wildly excited or agitated manner (usually followed byout ); freaking out.
What with his tweaking out over every little mistake, the boss hasn’t been anyone's hero of late.
adjective
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making minor adjustments to something.
I’m so happy with the sound—a huge antidote for me coming from the ever tweaking, never satisfied audiophile world.
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Slang. behaving in a wildly excited or agitated manner, especially as an effect of using methamphetamine, cocaine, or other stimulant drugs.
He was pacing around and bursting in and out of emotional fits like a tweaking junkie.
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Slang. (used as an intensifier).
What kind of a tweaking idiot would do that?
adverb
Etymology
Origin of tweaking
First recorded in 1610–20; tweak + -ing 1 for the noun senses; tweak + -ing 2 for the adjective and adverb senses
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.
But the key question is whether tweaking that marketing message can address the gap in underlying demand.
From MarketWatch • May 8, 2026
And I guess I’m curious about why this is done in the language of We’re tweaking, we’re doing tiny fixes, we’re restoring us to the status quo ex ante.
From Slate • Apr. 30, 2026
Anil Jain, global managing director at Google Cloud, said that these tools can do both simple functions like tweaking a scene’s background, or achieve more complex tasks, like creating promotional material.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2026
He added that that "tweaking the top price" could "keep the lower prices down".
From BBC • Apr. 14, 2026
This often leads to some "tweaking" of the tuning in real performances, away from equal temperament.
From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones
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.
