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View synonyms for

lax

1

[laks]

adjective

laxer, laxest 
  1. not strict or severe; careless or negligent: a lax attitude toward discipline.

    lax morals;

    a lax attitude toward discipline.

  2. loose or slack; not tense, rigid, or firm: a lax handshake.

    a lax rope;

    a lax handshake.

  3. not rigidly exact or precise; vague.

    lax ideas.

  4. open, loose, or not retentive, as diarrheal bowels.

  5. (of a person) having the bowels unusually loose or open.

  6. open or not compact; having a loosely cohering structure; porous.

    lax tissue;

    lax texture.

  7. Phonetics.(of a vowel) articulated with relatively relaxed tongue muscles.



lax

2

[laks]

noun

Informal.
  1. lacrosse.

    To handle my course load, I know I have to cut back on extracurricular activities, but no way am I giving up lax.

lax

/ æ /

adjective

  1. lacking firmness; not strict

  2. lacking precision or definition

  3. not taut

  4. phonetics (of a speech sound) pronounced with little muscular effort and consequently having relatively imprecise accuracy of articulation and little temporal duration. In English the vowel i in bit is lax

  5. (of flower clusters) having loosely arranged parts

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Other Word Forms

  • laxly adverb
  • laxness noun
  • overlax adjective
  • overlaxly adverb
  • overlaxness noun
  • ˈ adverb
  • ˈ澱ٲ noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of lax1

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin laxus “loose, spacious, wide”; akin to Բŧ “to be sluggish, faint, unwell”; cognate with Old English æ slack 1

Origin of lax2

First recorded in 1970–75; la(crosse) ( def. ) + x 3 ( def. ) “a cross,” (in the sense cross ( def. ), a pun on crosse, the stick used in lacrosse)
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Word History and Origins

Origin of lax1

C14 (originally used with reference to the bowels): from Latin laxus loose
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

A 2023 Department of Justice report found that Epstein was able to kill himself a little over a month after he was taken into federal custody because of lax oversight at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.

From

“There is a bit of truth in the sense that the U.S. has been somehow lax in terms of how much processing you allow for food and how much additional ingredients you have,” Chaccour said.

From

At Desert View, staff were lax in managing infectious diseases, the report said, while at Mesa Verde, detainees experienced prolonged wait times for critical off-site care.

From

Deadly fires are often reported in buildings in Indian cities, with poor planning and lax enforcement of safety regulations playing a role.

From

But Chu said he believes the entertainment industry has been too lax about tech companies’ ethically questionable training methods since the advent of generative AI, calling the unauthorized use of Hollywood creations an “original sin.”

From

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