Meanings
nounauto-tune (uncountable)
alternative AutoTune
- uncountableentertainmentAn audio processor that corrects the pitch of a recorded track, also used to distort vocals in electronic music.
verbauto-tune (third-person singular simple present auto-tunes, present participle auto-tuning, simple past and past participle auto-tuned)
present singular third person auto-tunes · participle present auto-tuning · participle past auto-tuned · past auto-tuned · alternative AutoTune
- transitiveTo tune (an engine, industrial process, etc.) automatically.
- transitiveentertainmentTo 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
Origin
From auto- + tune, a trademark registered to Antares Audio Technologies.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
auto-tune. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/auto-tune
MLA
“auto-tune.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/auto-tune. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “auto-tune,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/auto-tune.
Source: auto-tune on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.