- present participle of tweak.
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.
Here, Madonna is liberated from Universal’s script notes or editing maneuvers, free from tweaking anyone’s performance to feel more like the real thing.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
It also plans to propose policy changes such as tweaking unemployment benefits to let displaced workers continue to get them while they, for instance, start new businesses with AI.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
Chelsea have five sporting directors with defined responsibilities, and player recruitment will be conducted in collaboration with him and those figures, "tweaking" the need to add experience with long-term planning.
From BBC ● May 16, 2026
At the same time, the motion picture academy was tweaking its rules for determining the shortlist for the international feature award, opening voting to more members.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026
Then she started tweaking the hairpins from my hair.
From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
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.
