relax

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“
Her favorite way to relax is to get on the subway with a good book and her iPod.

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Definitions (35)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (8)

  1. transitive verb To make lax or loose: relax one's grip.
  2. transitive verb To make less severe or strict: relax a curfew.
  3. transitive verb To reduce in intensity; slacken: relax one's efforts.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (15)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

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Examples (29)

  • Her favorite way to relax is to get on the subway with a good book and her iPod. —  starked
  • I often kid my husband that I don't know how to relax, which isn't far from the truth. —  All articles at Blogcritics
  • Like her mother, the best way for her to relax is to spend time in the kitchen, cooking up a storm. —  Once Upon A Feast - Every Kitchen Tells Its Stories
  • "It's given my hamstring a couple more day to relax, which is probably not such a bad thing, and it's fine, it's really good." —  AFL Latest News and Broadband
  • The word relax is questionable in that he was a very dedicated fan of both sports and well we all know how we feel when the Pack has a bad day.
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This word has been looked up 106 times.

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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

Used in the same contextWord Family

relax:   relaxing ·  relaxed ·  relaxes
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 relaxen, from Old French relaxer, from Latin relaxāre : re-, re- + laxāre, to loosen (from laxus, loose; see slēg- in Indo-European roots).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Old French (and F.) relaxer =Provencal relaxar, relachar =Spanish relajar =Portuguese relaxar =Italian rilassare, rilasciare, release, from Latin relaxare, relax, from re-, back, + laxare, loosen, from laxus, loose: see lax. Doublet of release.
  2. from relax, v.
  3. =Italian relasso, weary, from Middle Latin relaxus, relaxed: see relax, v.
 

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/rəˈlæks/
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