lax

[ laks ]

/ læks /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR lax ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective, lax·er, lax·est.

not strict or severe; careless or negligent: lax morals; a lax attitude toward discipline.

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

not rigidly exact or precise; vague: lax ideas.

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

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

open or not compact; having a loosely cohering structure; porous: lax tissue; lax texture.

Phonetics. (of a vowel) articulated with relatively relaxed tongue muscles.Compare tense¹(def 4).

Nearby words

Origin of lax

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin laxus loose, slack, wide; akin to languēre to languish; cognate with Old English slæc slack¹

Related forms

lax·ly, adverblax·ness, nouno·ver·lax, adjectiveo·ver·lax·ly, adverb

o·ver·lax·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for lax

Conservatives have attacked the lax security under Obama, even straining to tie the threat to ISIS.
Obama, the Coffee Salute, and the Dementia on the Right|Sally Kohn|September 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In the age of the Internet and in our lax regulatory environment, there are more quacks than ever before.
The Strange, True Tale of the Old-Timey Goat Testicle-Implanting 'Governor'|Penny Lane|September 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It is also quite easy to drive from California to Nevada, which also has lax gun laws.
How the Gun Nuts Try to Excuse Away the Santa Barbara Slaughter—and Why They’re All Wrong|Cliff Schecter|May 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
If lax guns laws and more guns overall made people safer, the United States would be the safest place in the world.
How the Gun Nuts Try to Excuse Away the Santa Barbara Slaughter—and Why They’re All Wrong|Cliff Schecter|May 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Blame for the deaths fell on lax safety measures, which allowed the victims to get too near to the test site.
Branson’s Galactic Obstacles: Tom Bower Puts a Damper on Virgin’s Space Flight Dreams|Clive Irving|January 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Discipline on the privateers was lax, and the profits of a successful cruise were enormous.
The Naval History of the United States|Willis J. Abbot.
The presence of such a man as Lax in the country was an eyesore to Captain Clayton, which it was his primary duty to remove.
The Landleaguers|Anthony Trollope
You are lax in the wrong place, and scrupulous in the wrong place.
The History of England from the Accession of James II.|Thomas Babington Macaulay
He had been aware that Lax was in the court, and had seated himself opposite to the place where the man had stood.
The Landleaguers|Anthony Trollope
Monsieur Etienne de Saint Pierre fell back, lax with astonishment.
The Firebrand|S. R. Crockett

British Dictionary definitions for lax

lax

/ (læks) /

adjective

lacking firmness; not strict

lacking precision or definition

not taut

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

(of flower clusters) having loosely arranged parts

Derived Formslaxly, adverblaxity or laxness, noun

Word Origin for lax

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

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

Word Origin and History for lax

lax

adj.

c.1400, "loose" (in reference to bowels), from Latin laxus "wide, loose, open," figuratively "loose, free, wide," from PIE root *(s)leg- "to be slack, be languid" (cf. Greek legein "to leave off, stop," lagos "hare," literally "with drooping ears," lagnos "lustful, lascivious," lagaros "slack, hollow, shrunken;" Latin languere "to be faint, weary," languidis "faint, weak, dull, sluggish, languid"). Of rules, discipline, etc., attested from mid-15c.

lax

"salmon," from Old English leax (see lox).

lax