TUNE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tune mean? 

• TUNE (noun)
  The noun TUNE has 3 senses:

1. a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence

2. the property of producing accurately a note of a given pitch

3. the adjustment of a radio receiver or other circuit to a required frequency

  Familiarity information: TUNE used as a noun is uncommon.

• TUNE (verb)
  The verb TUNE has 2 senses:

1. adjust for (better) functioning

2. adjust the pitches of (musical instruments)

  Familiarity information: TUNE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TUNE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

air; line; melodic line; melodic phrase; melody; strain; tune

Context example:

she was humming an air from Beethoven

Hypernyms ("tune" is a kind of...):

music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)

Meronyms (parts of "tune"):

musical phrase; phrase (a short musical passage)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tune"):

fanfare; flourish; tucket ((music) a short lively tune played on brass instruments)

glissando (a rapid series of ascending or descending notes on the musical scale)

roulade ((music) an elaborate run of several notes sung to one syllable)

leitmotif; leitmotiv (a melodic phrase that accompanies the reappearance of a person or situation (as in Wagner's operas))

theme song (a melody that recurs and comes to represent a musical play or movie)

signature; signature tune; theme song (a melody used to identify a performer or a dance band or radio/tv program)

idea; melodic theme; musical theme; theme ((music) melodic subject of a musical composition)

part; voice (the melody carried by a particular voice or instrument in polyphonic music)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The property of producing accurately a note of a given pitch

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

the clarinet was out of tune

Hypernyms ("tune" is a kind of...):

pitch (the property of sound that varies with variation in the frequency of vibration)

Derivation:

tune (adjust the pitches of (musical instruments))

Sense 3

Meaning:

The adjustment of a radio receiver or other circuit to a required frequency

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("tune" is a kind of...):

adjustment; alteration; modification (the act of making something different (as e.g. the size of a garment))

• TUNE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they tune    ... he / she / it tunes   
Past simple: tuned   
Past participle: tuned   
-ing form: tuning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Adjust for (better) functioning

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

tune; tune up

Context example:

tune the engine

Hypernyms (to "tune" is one way to...):

adjust; correct; set (alter or regulate so as to achieve accuracy or conform to a standard)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "tune"):

fine-tune; tweak (adjust finely)

service (make fit for use)

tune in (regulate (a radio or television set) in order to receive a certain station or program)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

tuning ((music) calibrating something (an instrument or electronic circuit) to a standard frequency)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Adjust the pitches of (musical instruments)

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

tune; tune up

Context example:

My piano needs to be tuned

Hypernyms (to "tune" is one way to...):

adjust; correct; set (alter or regulate so as to achieve accuracy or conform to a standard)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

untune (cause to be out of tune)

Derivation:

tune (the property of producing accurately a note of a given pitch)

tuner (someone who tunes pianos)

tuning ((music) calibrating something (an instrument or electronic circuit) to a standard frequency)

 Context examples 

This self-tuning balance of activity, common in other body systems, is called homeostasis.

(Self-tuning neurons promote resilience to stress, depression, NIH)

The glass door of the parlour was not open; but in the workshop across the yard I could faintly hear the old tune playing, as if it had never left off.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Ah! my dear, said the Admiral, when he had got a wife, he will sing a different tune.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I really need some music to put me in tune.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“How knew you the tune?” asked the other.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You may also want to have your car tuned up before you go on the road.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

"We're structurally tuning that plastic," says Soleymani, an engineering physicist.

(Scientists Create Superbug-Resistant Self-Cleaning Surface, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The amount of drug can be controlled by tuning the strength of the electric field.

(Electronic device implanted in the brain could stop seizures, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

A fancy came into my head, that I would entertain the king and queen with an English tune upon this instrument.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

If we care to sing in tune, we may get up some kind of a concert; so come along with us.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)