Word.ws English Dictionary

detuned

detuned is the simple past and past participle of detune.

Meaning of detune

Verb

detune (third-person singular simple present detunes, present participle detuning, simple past and past participle detuned)

  1. To intentionally lower or raise the pitch produced by a musical instrument, often to produce sounds not normally possible, or to reduce tension in a stringed instrument for the purpose of shipping or maintenance.
    • Some avant-garde composers request that performers detune their instruments before playing.
    Synonyms:
    untune
  2. To alter the resonant frequency of a tuned system so that it is slightly different from a specified target frequency.

Adjective

detuned

  1. Having undergone detuning.
    • a detuned instrument or device
    • Karma police, arrest this man / He talks in maths, he buzzes like a fridge / He's like a detuned radio1997, “Karma Police”, in OK Computer, performed by Radiohead

Questions about detuned

What does detuned mean?
Detuned means having undergone detuning.
What is detuned the simple past and past participle of?
Detuned is the simple past and past participle of detune.
What part of speech is detuned?
Detuned is an adjective.

Words near detuned in the dictionary

  1. detumesces
  2. detumescing
  3. detumomab
  4. detunable
  5. detune
  6. detuned
  7. detuner
  8. detuners
  9. detunes
  10. detunicated
  11. detuning

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: detuned (page history and authors); detune (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: “detuned.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/detuned. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.