Word.ws English Dictionary

auto-tune

auto-tune noun: an audio processor that corrects the pitch of a recorded track, also used to distort vocals in electronic music.

Noun

auto-tune (uncountable)

  1. An audio processor that corrects the pitch of a recorded track, also used to distort vocals in electronic music.

Verb

auto-tune (third-person singular simple present auto-tunes, present participle auto-tuning, simple past and past participle auto-tuned)

  1. (transitive) To tune (an engine, industrial process, etc.) automatically.
  2. (transitive) To correct the pitch of a vocal or instrumental performance.
    • The singing is sometimes pure and sometimes processed into exaggeratedly AutoTuned “Alvin and the Chipmunks” automation.2023 July 10, Zachary Woolfe, “Review: Ted Hearne’s Sweet, Sad American Elegy”, in The New York Times

Forms of auto-tune

third-person singular presentauto-tunes
present participleauto-tuning
past participleauto-tuned
pastauto-tuned

Origin of auto-tune

From auto- + tune, a trademark registered to Antares Audio Technologies.

Questions about auto-tune

What does auto-tune mean?
Auto-tune means an audio processor that corrects the pitch of a recorded track, also used to distort vocals in electronic music.
What part of speech is auto-tune?
Auto-tune can be a noun or a verb.

Words near auto-tune in the dictionary

  1. auto-suggestion
  2. auto-suggestions
  3. auto-tagging
  4. auto-tiering
  5. auto-toxaemia
  6. auto-tune
  7. auto-tuned
  8. auto-tuner
  9. auto-tuners
  10. auto-tunes
  11. auto-tuning

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: auto-tune (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “auto-tune.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/auto-tune. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.