Spanish Conversation · Level 119
60 words
Spanish word
afinar
Pronunciation
IPA/afiˈnaɾ/
Meaning
- verbtune
Example
El pianista afina el piano antes del concierto.
The pianist tunes the piano before the concert.
More examples
Para mejorar la pronunciación, debes afinar el oído.
To improve pronunciation, you should train the ear.
Core concept
Musician turning a tuning peg until a string matches the target pitch.
Common phrases
afinar detalles
fine-tune details
afinar una estrategia
fine-tune a strategy
afinar el oído
train the ear
Similar words
entonar: The voice aligns to a musical pitch and maintains steady, accurate intonation while singing.
ajustar: Physical parts or settings are tweaked precisely so a device performs as intended.
Definition in Spanish
Ajustar la afinación de un instrumento o mejorar algo mediante pequeños cambios para lograr mayor precisión.
Word origin
Spanish afinar derives from Old French affiner 'to make finer', originally meaning 'to refine', and it is applied to musical tuning and to making small precision improvements.
Usage tips
- In conversational Spanish afinar commonly pairs with plan, texto, or estrategia to mean polishing small details rather than making large changes.
Other meanings
- fine-tuneverb
- honeverb
Opposites
- desafinargo out of tuneverb
Related words
- afinamientofine-tuningnoun
- afinadotunedadjective