Definition of LAX

lax

Plural: laxes

Adjective Satellite

  • lacking in rigor or strictness
    • "such lax and slipshod ways are no longer acceptable"
    • "lax in attending classes"
  • emptying easily or excessively

Adjective

  • Not strict, severe, or careful; lenient or careless.
  • pronounced with muscles of the tongue and jaw relatively relaxed (e.g., the vowel sound in `bet')
  • lacking in strength or firmness or resilience
    • "a lax rope"

Noun

  • A salmon.
  • lacrosse.
  • Clipping of laxative.

Adj

  • Lenient and allowing for deviation; not strict.
  • Loose; not tight or taut.
  • Lacking care; neglectful, negligent.
  • Describing an associative monoidal functor.
  • Having a looseness of the bowels; diarrheal.
  • (of a vowel) Produced with relatively little constriction of the vocal tract.

Examples

  • The house rules for Scrabble were so LAX that almost any word was allowed.
  • The rope fell lax.
  • The rules are fairly lax, but you have to know which ones you can bend.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English lax, from Old English leax (“salmon”), from Proto-West Germanic *lahs (“salmon”), from Proto-Germanic *lahsaz (“salmon”), from Proto-Indo-European *laḱs- (“salmon, trout”). Cognate with Middle Dutch lacks, lachs, lasche (“salmon”), Middle Low German las (“salmon”), German Lachs (“salmon”), Norwegian laks (“salmon”), Danish laks (“salmon”), Swedish lax (“salmon”), Icelandic lax (“salmon”), Lithuanian lašišà (“salmon”), Latvian lasis, Russian лосо́сь (losósʹ, “salmon”), Albanian leshterik (“eel-grass”). Doublet of lox.

Antonyms

tense, strict, taut, tight

Scrabble Score: 10

lax: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
lax: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
lax: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 11

lax: valid Words With Friends Word