slack
1 Americanadjective
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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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
The New SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
The ACT Reading Test: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 3
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
His assistant coaches, mostly a group of his former Granada Hills players, have to pick up the slack sometimes with the subsequent practices early in the following week.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
However, with labor market slack only gradually increasing, focus now turns to Wednesday’s U.S. inflation data, Deutsche Bank analysts say in a note.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
“Amazing,” he says, giving chef Andrew Gruel a slack thumbs-up.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
As the tech sector has struggled, other corners of the market have picked up the slack.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
With Henry’s directions, I pull the pole back behind my head and then crank the reel, moving the pole forward, never letting the line get slack.
From "Shouting at the Rain" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
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
My backstory was that they lived in New York — he was trying to get in a band, it didn’t really happen for him, he was kind of a slacker.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2025
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
Some of the plot is just unnecessary padding, like Daniel’s girlfriend troubles and slacker mentality, spiking in an odd scene where he hysterically bemoans his own uselessness.
From New York Times ● Jun. 20, 2024
That night Dr. Marrigan told me that I was too smart to be a slacker faculty kid.
From "Wintergirls" 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 any year it would have been a tasteful, artful job of the soft sell, but in this, television's slackest season, the Eastern Airlines commercial looked like a masterwork.
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
A styling group stores troves of neutral tone crew and V-neck sweaters, button-down shirts, slacks and extra pairs of the Silver Lining Opticians “Carbon” glasses at an off-site building, current and former employees said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 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
The dads were in their after-work best: slacks and a sweater, some sort of brown shoe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026
She’s a small, serious woman with carefully bobbed hair and pressed slacks and a pendant necklace you see on church ladies, but she grips Annabelle’s hands and looks her dead straight in the eyes.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
As time elapsed, Sand’s rate of production never slacked.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
If teammates slacked off in practice after partying late, he’d shoot them extra hard puck passes.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 2, 2024
Speaking to the press, he said: "I've given my heart and soul. I can't think there'll be too many cricket fans out there who would think I've slacked off for a moment."
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2023
It's not as if Eigenberg ever slacked off in maintaining his physique; he also plays a main role in "Chicago Fire."
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2023
In the visitor’s locker room, Gaines, his face slacked with sweat and his hair matted, closed the door to parents and fans and drew the players around him.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
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
I’d always assumed it was yet another perk of being the commander’s kid and that she was just plain lazy and slacking off in classes.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
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.
