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Tweak vs Skew - What's the difference?

tweak | skew |

In lang=en terms the difference between tweak and skew

is that tweak is to twit or tease while skew is to look obliquely; to squint; hence, to look slightingly or suspiciously.

As nouns the difference between tweak and skew

is that tweak is a sharp pinch or jerk; a twist or twitch while skew is (architecture) a stone at the foot of the slope of a gable, the offset of a buttress, etc, cut with a sloping surface and with a check to receive the coping stones and retain them in place.

As verbs the difference between tweak and skew

is that tweak is to pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist; to twitch while skew is to change or alter in a particular direction.

As an adjective skew is

(mathematics) neither perpendicular nor parallel (usually said of two lines).

As an adverb skew is

awry; obliquely; askew.

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

    *

    skew

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (mathematics) Neither perpendicular nor parallel (usually said of two lines).
  • Derived terms

    * skew arch * skew back * skew bridge * skew curve * skew gearing, skew bevel gearing * skew surface * skew symmetrical determinant

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To change or alter in a particular direction.
  • A disproportionate number of female subjects in the study group skewed the results.
  • To shape or form in an oblique way; to cause to take an oblique position.
  • To throw or hurl obliquely.
  • To walk obliquely; to go sidling; to lie or move obliquely.
  • * L'Estrange
  • Child, you must walk straight, without skewing .
  • To start aside; to shy, as a horse.
  • To look obliquely; to squint; hence, to look slightingly or suspiciously.
  • (Beaumont and Fletcher)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (architecture) A stone at the foot of the slope of a gable, the offset of a buttress, etc., cut with a sloping surface and with a check to receive the coping stones and retain them in place.
  • Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • Awry; obliquely; askew.