slack
1 Americanadjective
-
slacker,
comparative
-
slackest
superlative
-
not tight, taut, firm, or tense;
a slack rope.
- Synonyms:
- relaxed
-
slack proofreading.
- Synonyms:
- thoughtless, lazy, lax
-
slow, sluggish, or indolent.
He is slack in answering letters.
-
not active or busy; dull; not brisk.
the slack season in an industry.
-
moving very slowly, as the tide, wind, or water.
-
Phonetics. weak; lax.
-
Nautical. easy.
adverb
noun
-
a slack condition or part.
-
the part of a rope, sail, or the like, that hangs loose, without strain upon it.
-
a decrease in activity, as in business or work.
a sudden slack in output.
- Synonyms:
- relaxation
-
a period of decreased activity.
-
Geography. a cessation in a strong flow, as of a current at its turn.
-
a depression between hills, in a hillside, or in the land surface.
-
Prosody. (in sprung rhythm) the unaccented syllable or syllables.
-
British Dialect. a morass; marshy ground; a hollow or dell with soft, wet ground at the bottom.
verb (used with object)
-
slacks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
slacked,
past participle, past
-
slacking
present participle
-
to be remiss in respect to (some matter, duty, right, etc.); leave undone; shirk.
He slacked the most important part.
- Synonyms:
- neglect
-
to make or allow to become less active, vigorous, intense, etc.; relax (efforts, labor, speed, etc.); lessen; moderate (often followed byup ).
-
to make loose, or less tense or taut, as a rope; loosen (often followed by off orout ).
-
to slake (lime).
verb (used without object)
-
slacks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
slacked,
past participle, past
-
slacking
present participle
-
to be remiss; shirk one's duty or part.
- Synonyms:
- malinger
-
to become less active, vigorous, rapid, etc. (often followed byup ).
Business is slacking up.
-
to become less tense or taut, as a rope; to ease off.
-
to become slaked, as lime.
idioms
noun
adjective
-
not tight, tense, or taut
-
negligent or careless
-
(esp of water, etc) moving slowly
-
(of trade, etc) not busy
-
phonetics another term for lax
adverb
noun
-
a part of a rope, etc, that is slack
take in the slack
-
a period of decreased activity
-
-
a patch of water without current
-
a slackening of a current
-
-
prosody (in sprung rhythm) the unstressed syllable or syllables
verb
-
to neglect (one's duty, etc)
-
(often foll by off) to loosen; to make slack
-
chem a less common word for slake
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
slacksimple
-
slackssimple
-
have slackedperfect
-
has slackedperfect
-
am slackingprogressive
-
are slackingprogressive
-
is slackingprogressive
-
have been slackingperfect progressive
-
has been slackingperfect progressive
Past
-
slackedsimple
-
had slackedperfect
-
was slackingprogressive
-
were slackingprogressive
-
had been slackingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of slack1
First recorded before 900; Middle English adjective slak(e), slakke, Old English slæc, sleac; cognate with Old Norse slakr, Old High German slach, Latin laxus lax
Origin of slack2
First recorded in 1200–50; of uncertain origin; compare Middle English sleck “mud, slush, stony soil,” Flemish slecke, Middle Dutch slacke, slecke, Dutch slak, Low German slak(ke), German Schlacke “dross (of metal)”
Explanation
If you slow down at the end of a race, you slack off. When you use slack this way, it means to reduce your speed, to be sluggish, or to be negligent. If something is loose, it's also said to be slack. A clothesline, for example, is slack if it is just hanging loosely between two trees. If you pull the clothesline tight, you reduce the slack. The root word of slack is the Old English word slæc, which means "loose or careless." When you scold your friend for being careless about his responsibilities, you can say, "Pick up the slack!"
Vocabulary lists containing slack
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 3
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The New SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words
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The ACT Reading Test: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 3
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The assumption was that community services would be strong enough to take up the slack.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026
Refiners in Nigeria also picked up some of the slack.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
Every veteran touring musician knows that the best way to snap the audience to attention is to stop singing during their biggest hit and invite the audience to take up the slack.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
By reputation she is a tough negotiator who cuts commercial tenants little slack for minor violations and refuses to give an inch when negotiating a lease.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
I looked back over my shoulder at the vast slack dump as I followed my father back to the car.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
In another writer’s hands, the soft-handed seat-fillers of his slacker masterpiece “Office Space” would be contemptible.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
The prototypical Gen Xer is resilient and cynical, a “latchkey kid” turned disaffected slacker, raised on MTV and limited parental supervision.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
That realisation manifests in the lovestruck slacker rock of Dragonfly, and the finger-plucked Neptune Baby, with its refrain, "I'm a boat, and you are the water".
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2025
DB, a slacker pool cleaner with eyes the same cerulean shade as the chlorinated body of water he tends to with an almost religious ecstasy.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2024
Father: “I don’t know where you picked up that slacker attitude, but you certainly didn’t learn it at home. Probably from the bad influences up here.”
From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
The UK has the slackest regulation of all EU members; other member states are much more stringent in their approach.
From The Guardian ● May 24, 2013
It was the most abstract and highly changeable concert I’ve seen this group perform, and also the slackest: inspired on one level, frustrating on another.
From New York Times ● Feb. 10, 2011
Drew was allowed to indulge in that slackest kind of writing, the day-by-day journal.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the weeks before Christmas, when retail sales are usually at their highest, retailers were cutting prices as though it were slackest of seasons.
From Time Magazine Archive
I wanted to make every one in the college understand that it was the slackest place in Oxford, and having done that I wished to find the men who would make it keener.
From Godfrey Marten, Undergraduate by Charles Turley
Laura Overdeck on Wednesday sat by her legal team in the light-wood-paneled courtroom in Newark, N.J. wearing a gray-and-white striped jacket, white slacks and chunky blue heels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Eugene Levert, chain-smoking next to a stack of books while wearing a vertical blue-striped button-down and khaki slacks, looked the scholarly mirror of Doug Lamplugh, in a horizontal blue-striped polo and khaki shorts.
From Slate ● May 4, 2026
She added with a laugh that she’d brainstormed speech material the previous night while shaving her legs, despite the fact that she was outfitted in slacks at the ceremony.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2026
Still, James insisted that headquarters employees dress a cut above business casual, requiring jackets and slacks for men.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2025
She wore white slacks, a white sweater, white shoes and a white visor.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
“No one slacked off at all. Everyone just came in and worked hard. They just played a lot better than us. They were hitting on everything. It wasn’t our year.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
As time elapsed, Sand’s rate of production never slacked.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Much of the rest of the world, no doubt, slacked its collective jaw, and many American servicemen and servicewomen must have been ashamed.
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2025
If teammates slacked off in practice after partying late, he’d shoot them extra hard puck passes.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 2, 2024
I’ve slacked off during the past week because of all the homework, the pageant practices, and the trip to Atlantic City.
From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles
I’ve heard it repeatedly from experts: The greatest risk of working out alone is bad form, leading to inefficient movement, slacking off and higher chance of injury.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 4, 2026
With her apartment a flood zone and her landlord slacking off on the maintenance, Linda and her daughter are forced to live at a nearby hotel.
From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2025
“When are you going to stop slacking off?”
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 30, 2023
Due to a slowing economy and slacking advertising revenue, newsrooms have been slashed across the industry.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 15, 2023
It’s crazy, but instead of that whole experience pushing me to train even harder, I began slacking off in practice.
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
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