lax

¹

[ laks ]

adjective

, lax·er, lax·est.

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. Compare tense ¹( def 4 ).

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

/ læks /

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

Derived Forms

• ˈlaxly, adverb
• ˈlaxity, noun

Other Words From

• lax·ly adverb
• lax·ness noun
• o·ver·lax adjective
• o·ver·lax·ly adverb
• o·ver·lax·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of lax¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin laxus “loose, spacious, wide”; akin to languēre “to be sluggish, faint, unwell”; cognate with Old English slæc 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)

Word History and Origins

Origin of lax¹

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

Example Sentences

At best, his administration appeared exceptionally lax, and at worst, it willfully obstructed justice.

From The Daily Beast

Conservatives have attacked the lax security under Obama, even straining to tie the threat to ISIS.

From The Daily Beast

In the age of the Internet and in our lax regulatory environment, there are more quacks than ever before.

From The Daily Beast

The relatively lax immigration policy of the early 20th century gave way to rabid nativism in the 1920s.

From The Daily Beast

Georgia is one of several states whose lax gun laws result in a continuous flow of illegal guns into New York and other cities.

From The Daily Beast

The country had never altogether recovered from the reaction of lax indifference into which it had fallen after the Restoration.

From Project Gutenberg

There is a general idea that the medical training is lax, and the doctors, as a rule, are not highly considered.

From Project Gutenberg

Of all classes it may be said that their manners are, on the whole, good, and their morals generally lax.

From Project Gutenberg

Such a division of authority makes lax expenditure and bad management.

From Project Gutenberg

Mr. Mitchell was nominally a Unitarian in his religious creed, but he held very lax notions of this theology, and verged to Deism.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• careless
• indifferent
• lenient
• negligent
• sloppy
• soft
• vague