lax

¹ American  

[laks] / læks /

adjective

laxer, laxest

1. not strict or severe; careless or negligent: a lax attitude toward discipline.

   lax morals;

   a lax attitude toward discipline.

2. loose or slack; not tense, rigid, or firm: a lax handshake.

   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.

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lax ² American  

[laks] / læks /

noun

Informal.

1. lacrosse.

   To handle my course load, I know I have to cut back on extracurricular activities, but no way am I giving up lax.

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lax British  

/ læks /

adjective

1. lacking firmness; not strict

2. lacking precision or definition

3. not taut

4. phonetics (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

5. (of flower clusters) having loosely arranged parts

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Other Word Forms

• laxity noun
• laxly adverb
• laxness noun
• overlax adjective
• overlaxly adverb
• overlaxness noun

Etymology

Origin of lax¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin laxus “loose, spacious, wide”; akin to languēre “to be sluggish, faint, unwell”; cognate with Old English slæc slack ¹

Origin of lax²

First recorded in 1970–75; la(crosse) ( def. ) + x ³ ( def. ) “a cross,” (in the sense cross ( def. ), a pun on crosse, the stick used in lacrosse)

Example Sentences

The Cour des Comptes said the state had been lax in not checking the credentials of the 30,000 dealers to whom it allows access to the SIV.

From BBC • Mar. 12, 2026

The delivery driver walked past deputies stationed at the scene, prompting outcry about potential contamination and the lax security at the crime scene.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 18, 2026

“I’m absolutely not in the business of saying we should be making these regulations more lax purely to make child care more affordable for parents.”

From Salon • Jan. 25, 2026

Democrat Kevin Looper and Republican Dan Lavey started a bipartisan group in 2021, People for Portland, aimed at paring back some of the lax homelessness policies that have roiled the local economy.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026

Some of them were too lax, some too brittle, some careless, some too firm, some inconsistent.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover

Related Words

• careless
• indifferent
• lenient
• negligent
• sloppy
• soft
• vague