lax
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /læks/
rhymes: -æks
homophone: lacs
homophone: lacks
homophone: lakhs (one pronunciation)
Forms: form: laxer
form: laxest
form: lacks
form: lacks
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin laxus (“wide, roomy, loose”).
Senses: examples: text: The rules are fairly lax, but you have to know which ones you can bend.
text: Society at that epoch was lenient, if not lax, in matters of the passions.
ref: 1886, John Addington Symonds, Philip Sidney:
glosses: Lenient and allowing for deviation; not strict.
examples: text: The rope fell lax.
text: The Fleſh of this ſort of [cartilaginous] Fiſh being lax and ſpungy, and nothing ſo firm, ſolid and weighty as that of the bony Fiſhes, and there being a good quantity of Air contained in the Cavity of their Abdomen, they cannot ſink in the Water without letting in ſome of it by theſe Holes (the Orifices whereof are opened and ſhut at pleaſure by the help of Muſcles provided for that purpoſe) into the hollow of their Bellies, whereby they preponderate the Water and deſcend; […]
ref: 1701, John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation, […], 3rd edition, London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, […], →OCLC, part II, page 355:
text: Sreedharan and Mirsa (1973) reported that two lax panicle mutants, designated as nude panicle mutation, were obtained from the M₂ of two rice cultivars.
ref: 1979, “Genetical Studies on Dense and Lax Panicles In Rice”, in Japan. J. Breed., volume 29, number 2, page 151:
glosses: Loose; not tight or taut.
examples: text: The guard was paying no attention whatever to the running of his train, in total disregard of rules, and, as the recently-published report of a Ministry of Transport Inspecting Officer of Railways shows, there were other disquieting features in the case, such as ignorance on the part of responsible men of rules and appendix instructions and a lax attitude to regulations of which they professed to be aware, combined with failure to look at staff notice boards.
ref: 1956 September, “Notes and News: The Barby Sidings Accident Report”, in Railway Magazine, page 638:
text: Prior to this match, Albion had only scored three league goals all season, but Wes Brown's lax marking allowed Morrison to head in their fourth from a Chris Brunt free-kick and then, a minute later, the initial squandering of possession and Michael Turner's lack of pace let Long run through to slot in another.
ref: 2011 October 1, Phil Dawkes, “Sunderland 2 – 2 West Brom”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: Lacking care; neglectful, negligent.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: Describing an associative monoidal functor.
glosses: Having a looseness of the bowels; diarrheal.
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: (of a vowel) Produced with relatively little constriction of the vocal tract.
Synonyms: sense: lenient, not strict
word: permissive
sense: lenient, not strict
word: lenient
sense: lenient, not strict
word: relaxed
sense: loose, not tight
word: loose
sense: loose, not tight
word: slack
sense: lacking care
word: blameworthy
sense: lacking care
word: lash
sense: lacking care
word: negligent
sense: lacking care
word: remiss
sense: lacking care
word: reprehensible
Derived terms: laxed
laxing
laxism
laxist
laxly
laxness
lax up
lax vowel
overlax
Related terms: laxity
leash
relax
release