tweak

1 of 2

verb

ˈtwēk 

tweaked; tweaking; tweaks

transitive verb

1

: to make usually small adjustments in or to

tweak the controls

especially : fine-tune

2

: to injure slightly

3

: to pinch (a person or a body part) lightly or playfully

4

: to pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist : twitch

tweaked a bud from the stem

5

a

: annoy, bother

tweaking the establishment

b

: to criticize especially in a sly or sharp manner

c

: to poke fun at

intransitive verb

1

: pull, pluck

2

: to make small adjustments

tweak

2 of 2

noun

plural tweaks

1

: a small change or adjustment

We made a few tweaks to the original recipe.

Jellyfish collects information about what's happening behind the scenes and rushes it to its corporate clients so they can make investments based on things like forthcoming regulations or tax code tweaks.

—Tim Murphy

They'd try making helpful tweaks to the way my chair faced the computer …

—Lucette Lagnado

2

: a sharp pinch or jerk

a tweak of the nose

Archie laughed, and Rose, seeing a merry blue eye winking at her from behind two brown hands, gave Charlie's ear a friendly tweak …

—Louisa May Alcott

3

: a slight injury causing pain

… it's worth remembering that Pryor is a more dangerous runner than passer, so even a slight tweak of the leg or ankle could be a significant blow to the offense at State College.

—Bob Hunter

Examples of tweak in a Sentence

Verb

We just wanted to tweak his original idea a bit.

He tweaked his ankle playing soccer.

My brother hates it when our grandmother tweaks his cheek.

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

When the Department of Transportation has only a sparse staff and limited budget to cope with 6,000 miles of streets and an endless supply of fractious New Yorkers eager to tweak, delay, and even block the lifesaving street redesigns. —Justin Davidson, Curbed, 13 Nov. 2024

Testing the Magic Trackpad: Keeping 'Track' of Changes All of the Trackpad’s additional functions can be tweaked to your liking in your Mac’s System Preferences app. —PCMAG, 7 Nov. 2024

Noun

In terms of the Undo function, an excellent adjustment history panel shows not only all previous tweaks but also a thumbnail at the top with a mini view of those tweaks' effects. —PCMAG, 12 Nov. 2024

Both North American and international retail operations saw improved margins, led by better cost management, tweaks in seller policies, and higher fees. —Trefis Team, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Verb

probably alteration of Middle English twikken to pull sharply, from Old English twiccian to pluck — more at twitch entry 1

First Known Use

Verb

1601, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 4

Noun

1616, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Kids Definition

tweak

verb

ˈtwēk 

1

: to pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist

2

: to make small adjustments in or to

tweak the controls

3

: to injure slightly

tweak noun