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laxness

 - 5 dictionary results

Lax⋅ness

  [lahks-nes]
Use laxness in a Sentence
–noun
Hall⋅dór Kil⋅jan  [hahl-dohr kil-yahn] , 1902–98, Icelandic writer: Nobel prize 1955.

lax

  [laks]
–adjective, -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. Compare tense 1 (def. 4).
Origin:
1350–1400; ME < L laxus loose, slack, wide; akin to languēre to languish; c. OE slæc slack 1

Related forms:
laxly, adverb
laxness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To laxness
lax   (lāks)   
adj.   lax·er, lax·est

  1. Lacking in rigor, strictness, or firmness. See Synonyms at negligent.

  2. Not taut, firm, or compact; slack. See Synonyms at loose.

  3. Loose and not easily retained or controlled. Used of bowel movements.

  4. Linguistics Pronounced with the muscles of the tongue and jaw relatively relaxed, as the vowel (ě) in let.


[Middle English, from Latin laxus, loose, lax; see slēg- in Indo-European roots.]
lax·a'tion n., lax'ly adv., lax'ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

lax  (adj.)
c.1400, "loose" (in ref. to bowels), from L. laxus "wide, loose, open," from PIE base *sleg- "to be slack, be languid" (cf. Gk. legein "to leave off, stop," lagos "hare," lit. "with drooping ears," lagnos "lustful, lascivious," lagaros "slack, hollow, shrunken;" L. languere "to be faint, weary," languidis "faint, weak, dull, sluggish, languid"). Of rules, discipline, etc., attested from c.1450.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: lax
Pronunciation: 'laks
Function: adjective
1 of the bowels : LOOSE3
2 : having loose bowels
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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