lax

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (3)  · 
“
The passports for the lax are beyond my arithmetic P.

View all »
Definitions (20)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. adjective Lacking in rigor, strictness, or firmness. See Synonyms at negligent.
  2. adjective Not taut, firm, or compact; slack. See Synonyms at loose.
  3. adjective Loose and not easily retained or controlled. Used of bowel movements.
1 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (10)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (4)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (18)

  • -- As special interest groups prepare yet another court challenge of the current American hours-of-service rules on the grounds they're too lax, the nation's top carrier group
  • Accountability has been lax, and many police forces have been spending the money on other things. —  LA Weekly | Complete Issue
  • If we are too lax, our kids ride roughshod over us and take advantage of our softness. —  Vanishing American
  • But being too lax -- or appearing to be so -- has fueled popular discontent about the program, which also undermines its effectiveness. —  WSJ.com: What's News US
  • Canada's rules are so lax, the review notes, that foreign students can't be deported even if they never show up for class. —  The News is NowPublic.com - NowPublic.com: The News is Now Public
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 110 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Latin laxus, loose, lax; see slēg- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. = Old French lasche, French lâche, loose, slack, lax, sluggish, cowardly, = Spanish Portuguese laxo = Italian lasso, slack, lax, loose, lasco, lazy, idle, sluggish, from Latin laxus (Middle Latin also transposed *lascus, later Old French lasche, French lâche, etc., later English lash, lask), wide, open, loose, lax, slack; akin to languere, be languid (see languid, languish), and to English lag and lack. Hence ult. lask, lache, lash, laches, etc, lease, release, relax, etc.
  2. from Latin laxare, loosen, relax, from laxus, loose: see lax, a. Cf. lease, ult. the same word.
  3. Formerly also lacks (Kilian); from Middle English lax, from Anglo-Saxon leax = Middle Dutch lacks, lachs, lasche, lack = Old High German Middle High German lahs, German lachs = Icelandic Swedish lax = Danish laks, a salmon, = Polish losos, a salmon, = Russian lososû = Lith, laszisza, = Lett, lasis, a salmon-trout.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/læks/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about twice a month.

Recently looked up

boy · clumsier · marshes · widget · fratricide

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Der dicke Dachdecker deckte dir dein Dach, drum dank dem dicken Dachdecker, dass der dicke Dachdecker dir dein Dach deckte. · weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich