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Meaning of tune in English

tune
noun
us
/tuːn/ uk
/tjuːn/

tune noun (MUSICAL NOTES)

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A2 [ C ]
a series of musical notes, especially one that is pleasant and easy to remember:
He was humming a tune as he dried the dishes.
a theme tune
catchy tune That's a very catchy tune (= easy to remember and pleasant).
Synonym
melody
in tune
C1
singing or playing notes that are at the right pitch (= level) or that agree with others being sung or played:
She can't even sing in tune.
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out of tune
C1
singing or playing notes that are at the wrong pitch (= level) or that do not agree with others being sung or played:
The piano is out of tune.
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More examplesFewer examples
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Musical pieces
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tune noun (UNDERSTANDING)

be in/out of tune with someone/something
C2
If you are in tune with people or ideas, you understand or agree with them, and if you are out of tune with them, you do not:
Much of his success comes from being in tune with what his customers want.
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tune noun (AMOUNT)

to the tune of
to the stated amount:
The City Council had financed the new building to the tune of over four million dollars.
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tune noun (ENGINE)

[ C usually singular ] UK
a tune-up
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Engineering - mechanical
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

tune
verb [ T ]
us
/tuːn/ uk
/tjuːn/

tune verb [T] (INSTRUMENT)

to change a part of a musical instrument so that the instrument produces the correct sounds when played:
Get into the habit of tuning your guitar every day before you practice.
tune something (up) She tuned (up) her violin before the concert.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Playing music
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tune verb [T] (RADIO)

to move the controls on a radio, television, etc. so that it receives shows broadcast from a particular station:
be tuned to His radio is constantly tuned to KROQ-FM, the local rock station.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Broadcasting in general
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tune verb [T] (ENGINE)

to make slight changes to an engine so that it works as well as possible:
tune (up) an engine The engine needs tuning, but there's nothing wrong with the car.
Could you tune (up) the engine for me, please?
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Engineering - mechanical
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Phrasal verbs

tune in
tune (someone/something) out
tune (something) up
(Definition of tune from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

tune | Intermediate English

tune
noun
us
/tun/

tune noun (MUSICAL NOTES)

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[ C ]
a series of musical notes, esp. one that is pleasant and easy to remember; a melody:
That’s a very pretty tune.

tune noun (CORRECT MUSICAL NOTES)

[ U ]
the state of being adjusted to the correct pitch (= degree to which a musical note is high or low) :
This piano is out of tune (= the notes are too high or low).
Paul just can’t sing in tune (= with correctly produced notes).

Idioms

in tune with someone/something
to the tune of
tune
verb [ T ]
us
/tun/

tune verb [T] (ADJUST INSTRUMENT)

to adjust a musical instrument so the sounds produced are the correct pitch (= degree to which the sound is high or low):
Tune your guitar before you practice.

tune verb [T] (ADJUST SIGNAL)

to move the controls on a radio or television set so that it receives programs broadcast from a particular station:
Tune your radio to 88.3 FM.

tune verb [T] (ADJUST ENGINE)

to change the setting of particular parts of an engine so that it works as well as possible:
The engine needs tuning.

Idiom

tuned in (to someone/something)

Phrasal verbs

tune in (something)
tune out (something/someone)
tune up something
tune up (something)
(Definition of tune from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

tune | Business English

tune
noun [ C ]
uk
/tjuːn/ us
in tune with
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if a person or organization is in tune with people or ideas, they are able to understand them:
These new products are in tune with the requirements of a younger market.
His approach to HR is in tune with the new management policies.
to the tune of
informal
used to talk about how much something costs:
The organization is funded by the UN to the tune of $30 million.
The company is in debt to the tune of several million Euros.
tune
verb [ T ]
uk
/tjuːn/ us
to make small improvements to something so that it is as good as possible for a particular purpose:
The project deals with tuning and optimising database performance for a leading UK charity.
They need time to tune the launch of this product.
They provide finely tuned teaching support appropriate to pupils' individual needs.
See also
fine-tune

Phrasal verb

tune sth up
(Definition of tune from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of tune

tune
Stay tuned for more on that as it develops.
From Fast Company
An episode of this sort often seems more like the reliving of a tune than the simple remembering of it.
From The Atlantic
The drill is definitely a scary sounds and tuning it out seems like a good idea.
From TIME
Stay tuned for more in our full review!
From Ars Technica
All the data lets advertisers tune their ads, and the rest of the information logging lets them measure how well things are actually working.
From The Atlantic
So is employer-provided care, to the tune of almost $200 billion a year.
From CNN
Uncompromising, you know, played to his own tune.
From NPR
Life for women may be better in many ways than it's ever been, but we're far from whistling show tunes.
From CNN
It's just that their numbers are dwindling -- to the tune of a 22 percent year-on-year decline.
From Slate Magazine
They did, however, all make a choice to tune in.
From Slate Magazine
However, hearing the same tune for twenty minutes or half an hour straight gets irritating quickly.
From VentureBeat
Stay tuned for more on all of these.
From TIME
So stay tuned for this story to evolve over the day.
From OregonLive.com
I think they must have imagined picture after picture, book after book, and tune after tune.
From Los Angeles Times
I tune in each week wanting to love it, but it comes up woefully short in all of the areas that matter.
From Huffington Post
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
What is the pronunciation of tune?
 

Translations of tune

in Chinese (Traditional)
曲調, 曲調，曲子, 旋律…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
曲调, 曲调，曲子, 旋律…
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in Spanish
melodía, canción [feminine, singular]…
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in Portuguese
melodia, melodia [feminine], afinar…
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in more languages
in Marathi
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Dutch
in Tamil
in Hindi
in Gujarati
in Danish
in Swedish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Urdu
in Ukrainian
in Telugu
in Bengali
in Czech
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Korean
in Italian
धून…
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曲, 歌, メロディー…
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ezgi, melodi, nağme…
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air [masculine], accorder, régler…
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melodia…
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wijsje, stemmen, afstemmen…
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தொடர்ச்சியான இசைக் குறிப்புகள், குறிப்பாக இனிமையான மற்றும் நினைவில் கொள்ள எளிதான ஒன்று…
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धुन…
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ધૂન, તર્જ…
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melodi, stemme, indstille…
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melodi, låt, stämma…
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tiun, menalakan…
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die Melodie, stimmen, einstellen…
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melodi [masculine], stemme, stille inn…
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دھن…
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мотив, мелодія, настроювати…
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రాగం…
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গানের সুর…
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melodie, písnička, ladit…
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lagu, melaras, menyetel…
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ทำนอง, ตั้งเสียง, ตั้งคลื่นวิทยุ…
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giai điệu, điều chỉnh giai điệu, chỉnh sóng…
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melodia, stroić, nastawiać…
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곡, 곡조, 선율…
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canzone, musica, melodia…
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tuna
tuna, cheese, egg, etc. salad phrase
tunable BETA
tundra
tune
tune (someone/something) out phrasal verb
tune (something) up phrasal verb
tune in phrasal verb
tuned

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