relaxation

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act of relaxing or the state of being relaxed.
2. n. Refreshment of body or mind; recreation: played golf for relaxation.
3. n. A loosening or slackening.
4. n. A reduction in strictness or severity.
5. n. Physiology The lengthening of inactive muscle or muscle fibers.
6. n. Physics The return or adjustment of a system to equilibrium following displacement or abrupt change.
7. n. Mathematics A method of solving equations in which the errors resulting from an initial approximation are reduced by succeeding approximations until all errors are within specified limits.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The act of relaxing, or the state of being relaxed. A diminution of tone, tension, or firmness; specifically, in pathology, a looseness; a diminution of the natural and healthy tone of parts: as, relaxation of the soft palate.
2. n. Remission or abatement of rigor.
3. n. Remission of attention or application: as, relaxation of efforts.
4. n. Unbending; recreation; a state or occupation intended to give mental or bodily relief after effort.
5. n. Same as redislocation.

Wiktionary

1. n. The act of relaxing or the state of being relaxed; the opposite of stress or tension; the aim of recreation and leisure activities.
2. n. A diminution of tone, tension, or firmness; specifically in pathology: a looseness; a diminution of the natural and healthy tone of parts.
3. n. Remission or abatement of rigor.
4. n. Remission of attention or application.
5. n. Unbending; recreation; a state or occupation intended to give mental or bodily relief after effort.
6. n. The transition of an atom or molecule from a higher energy level to a lower one.
7. n. The release following musical tension.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act or process of relaxing, or the state of being relaxed
2. n. Remission from attention and effort; indulgence in recreation, diversion, or amusement.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a feeling of refreshing tranquility and an absence of tension or worry
2. n. the act of making less strict
3. n. (physics) the exponential return of a system to equilibrium after a disturbance
4. n. an occurrence of control or strength weakening
5. n. a method of solving simultaneous equations by guessing a solution and then reducing the errors that result by successive approximations until all the errors are less than some specified amount
6. n. (physiology) the gradual lengthening of inactive muscle or muscle fibers
7. n. freedom from activity (work or strain or responsibility)