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

With Andrey Santos being a late replacement for Reece James — who pulled out of the line-up after feeling tightness during the warm-up — Chelsea’s shape tweaked once again with Santos operating as a lone pivot as Enzo Fernandez pushed on in midfield. —Mark Carey, New York Times, 5 July 2025

Strange things happen when details of a massive tax and budget bill, like the one President Donald Trump signed yesterday, are tweaked behind closed doors. —Emma Whitford, Forbes.com, 5 July 2025

Noun

With Alexander-Arnold not particularly known for his one-v-one defending, Alonso has put structural tweaks in place to mitigate against any vulnerabilities, via Federico Valverde. —Mark Carey, New York Times, 7 July 2025

There's a truckload of new content, some incredible tweaks to the first game's formula, fantastic quality of life additions, in addition to everything people loved about the first game. —Oliver Brandt, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 July 2025

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

Rhymes for tweak

• beak
• beek
• bleak
• cheek
• chic
• clique
• creak
• creek
• eke
• freak
• geek
• greek

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