lax: Meaning and Definition of

lax

Pronunciation: (laks), [key]
— -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. (of a vowel) articulated with relatively relaxed tongue muscles. Cf. tense (def. 4).
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
See also:
  • lax (Thesaurus)