lax

UK: /ˈlæks/ US: /læks/ ,(laks)

Inflections of 'lax' (adj):

laxer

adj comparative

laxest

adj superlative

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

lax /læks/   adj., -er, -est. 

1. not strict or severe; careless:
   lax morals.
2. slack;
   not tense:
   a lax rope.
3. not rigidly exact or precise;
   vague:
   lax thinking.

lax•i•ty/ˈlæksɪti/  lax•ness, n. [uncountable]
lax•ly, adv. See -lax-.

-lax-, root. 

1. -lax- comes from Latin, where it has the meaning "loose, slack.'' This meaning is found in such words as: lax, laxative, relax.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

lax  (laks), adj., -er, -est. 

1. not strict or severe;
   careless or negligent:
   lax morals; a lax attitude toward discipline.
2. loose or slack;
   not tense, rigid, or firm:
   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. Cf. tense¹ (def. 4).

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

lax′ly, adv. 
lax′ness, n. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

lax / læks/ adjective

1. lacking firmness; not strict
2. lacking precision or definition
3. not taut
4. (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

Etymology: 14th Century (originally used with reference to the bowels): from Latin laxus loose

ˈlaxly adverb

ˈlaxity, ˈlaxness noun

lax / læks/ verb

short for relax