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Modify vs Tweak - What's the difference?

modify | tweak |

In transitive terms the difference between modify and tweak

is that modify is to make partial changes to while tweak is to twit or tease.

As a noun tweak is

a sharp pinch or jerk; a twist or twitch.

modify

English

Verb

(en-verb)
  • To make partial changes to.
  • To be or become modified.
  • Synonyms

    * adapt, alter, amend, revamp, rework

    References

    * *

    tweak

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A sharp pinch or jerk; a twist or twitch.
  • a tweak of the nose .
  • Trouble; distress; tweag.
  • A slight adjustment or modification.
  • He is running so many tweaks it is hard to remember how it looked originally.
  • (obsolete, slang) A prostitute.
  • * 1638 , , Barnabae Itinerarium: or Drunken Barnaby's four journeys to the north of England : In latin and english metre , Thomas Gent (1852), page 113:
  • […] Thence to Bautree, as I came there, / From the bushes near the lane, there / Rush'd a tweak in gesture flanting / With a leering eye, and wanton : / But my flesh I did subdue it / Fearing lest my purse should rue it.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist; to twitch.
  • (informal) To adjust slightly; to fine-tune.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Boundary problems , passage=Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too.
  • To twit or tease.
  • (intransitive, US, slang) To abuse methamphetamines, especially crystal meth.
  • (intransitive, US, slang) To exhibit symptoms of methamphetamine abuse, such as extreme nervousness, compulsiveness, erratic motion, excitability; possibly a blend of twitch and freak.
  • (intransitive, US, slang) To exhibit extreme nervousness, evasiveness when confronted by law enforcement or other authority (e.g., customs agents, border patrol, teacher, etc.), mimicking methamphetamine abuse symptoms.
  • Derived terms

    * (drug abuser) tweaker, (US) * (drug abuse) tweaking

    References

    *