- present participle of tweak.
tweaking
Americannoun
-
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.
-
the act of making minor adjustments to something.
A mere tweaking of some bit of technology is not going to fix this massive problem.
-
the act of annoying, teasing, or making fun of someone.
The movie seems like it might be an affectionate tweaking of the nerd generation.
-
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?
-
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
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
Some experts mentioned other technological solutions to help with public health: namely, the tweaking of algorithms to make it so the most inflammatory accounts aren’t always rewarded.
From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026
Slightly tweaking the prompt to say “in the USA,” however, yielded a list of products labeled as made in the United States.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Already, McDaniel has done some tinkering and fine-tuning, tweaking Herbert’s footwork out of the shotgun formation to allow him to get the ball out of his hands a fraction of a second earlier.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
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
Only then does it go to the copy editor, who starts another couple of rounds of tweaking.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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.
