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Synonyms

lax

1 American  
[laks] / læks /

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 American  
[laks] / læks /

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 British  
/ 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

"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

Other Word Forms

  • laxity noun
  • laxly adverb
  • laxness noun
  • overlax adjective
  • overlaxly adverb
  • overlaxness noun

Etymology

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)

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.

Even though peptides can’t legally be used by compounders, many were dispensing the drugs because the FDA has been lax in enforcing its regulations.

From Salon • Apr. 4, 2026

Mark Neuman, chief investment officer at Hero Asset Management, said it should be possible to discover the identities of those who placed the trades in question, and suggested the problem resulted more from lax oversight.

From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026

The delivery driver walked past deputies stationed at the scene, prompting outcry about potential contamination and the lax security at the crime scene.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 18, 2026

Wagner is one of the first people to file a lawsuit against the bank, suing for damages for what his lawyer, Daniel Kuhlmann, has called lax security.

From BBC • Feb. 14, 2026

Thula exploded in the face of what she saw as lax discipline.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.