adjusting

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of adjust.

   The technician is adjusting the settings on the monitor.

   We spent the afternoon adjusting the sails as the wind shifted.

   Note

   One spelling does two grammatical jobs. After a form of be it builds the progressive (she is adjusting the mirror). On its own it works as a gerund at the head of a clause (adjusting the mirror took a minute). It follows every use of adjust: with an object for modifying or correcting something, with to for fitting circumstances (adjusting to a new city), and in insurance, where adjusting a claim means settling it.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act or process of making small changes or corrections to something.

   The seat required some adjusting before it felt comfortable on the long drive.

   A few minutes of adjusting brought the microscope into sharp focus.

   Similaradjustment, tweaking

   Note

   Unlike the gerund, this noun can be counted and made plural. The Cornell Countryman of 1919 writes of "the big economic shiftings and adjustings" that "pinch us now and then." The plural adjustings sits comfortably beside other -ing nouns for gradual, piecemeal change. Where a single countable noun is wanted, adjustment does the same work, so this one is best kept for when the ongoing activity is the point.

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