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Synonyms

tweak

American  
[tweek] / twik /

verb (used with object)

  1. to pinch and pull with a jerk and twist.

    She playfully tweaked his ear.

    I tweaked my bowtie again, but it stayed stubbornly crooked.

  2. to pull or pinch the nose of, especially gently.

    He leaned over the stroller and tweaked the baby affectionately.

  3. to make a minor adjustment to.

    Bad hardware can't be fixed by tweaking the software.

  4. 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)

  1. Slang.

    1. to use methamphetamine, cocaine, or other stimulant drugs.

      He'll try to avoid taking a drug test if he's been tweaking and toking.

    2. to engage in wildly excited or agitated behavior under the influence of such drugs (usually followed byout ).

      If I'd seen someone else acting this way I would have thought they were tweaking on meth.

noun

  1. 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.

  2. a minor adjustment.

    Here are 12 simple tweaks to speed up your computer.

verb phrase

  1. tweak out

    1. 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.

    2. 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.

    3. to effect (an improvement) by means of minor adjustments.

      They were able to tweak out some pretty hefty performance improvements to the sound system.

    4. 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.

    5. 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.

    6. 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.
tweak British  
/ twiːk /

verb

  1. to twist, jerk, or pinch with a sharp or sudden movement

    to tweak someone's nose

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

  3. informal to make a minor alteration

"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

noun

  1. an instance of tweaking

  2. informal a minor alteration

"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

Other Word Forms

  • tweaker noun
  • tweaky adjective

Etymology

Origin of tweak

First recorded in 1595–1605; akin to twitch

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.

This little tweak—selling staples and buying healthcare—could do wonders for one’s portfolio if the market heads south.

From Barron's

One of the UFL’s other tweaks will look much more familiar to football fans, at least ones who watch the college game.

From The Wall Street Journal

While some projects might need tweaking before going live, he doesn’t use the term “pilot” for that phase.

From The Wall Street Journal

He could easily have made up a muscle strain or tweak.

From BBC

In recent years, MLB has tweaked the game — implementing a replay system to challenge calls on the field, placing a runner on second base to start extra innings, using a pitch clock.

From Los Angeles Times

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.