Make Your Point: LAX

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pronounce LAX:

LAX

connect this word to others:

Synonyms of the delightfully tiny word lax include sloppy, lenient, careless, unmindful, undisciplined, and sl__sh__.

Can you recall that last one? It means "sloppy and careless in a way that reminds you of someone shuffling around awkwardly in loose shoes."

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

We get the words "relax" and "lax" from the Latin laxus, meaning "wide, free, loose, roomy, or spacious."

In English, we first applied "lax" to loose bowels, and we still do—so that may be the image that comes to people's minds when they hear it!

More generally, we describe things as lax when they're too loose: they should be more firm, rigid, strict, or disciplined, but they're not.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "Their approach was too lax;" "Their policies have gotten laxer;" "Their program suffered from little funding and lax regulations."

Other forms:

The other adjective forms are "laxer" and "laxest."

The adverb is "laxly," and the noun is "laxity."

how to use it:

Pick the common, formal word "lax" when you want to complain about people running things all loosey-goosey when they should be keeping them shipshape.

You might talk about lax rules, laws, policies, approaches, methods, enforcement, oversight, security, protections, safety measures, etc.

Or you might say that people are lax in getting important things done, as in "That company has been lax in protecting the sensitive data of its customers."

examples:

"King Hizdahr's pit fighters were already growing bored and restive with their new duties, and bored men were lax, slow to react."
— George R. R. Martin, A Dance With Dragons, 2012

"Nutrition standards have remained lax during the pandemic, as school cafeterias struggled with supply chain crises and labor shortages."
— Laura Reiley, Washington Post, 3 February 2023

has this page helped you understand "lax"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "lax" without saying "not rigorous enough" or "too loose."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Something bad happens), possibly because of lax (parenting, teaching, discipline, security, regulations, or other things)."

Example: "More than 30% of Indonesian children start smoking before the age of 10, often propelled by lax tobacco control policies, aggressive marketing strategies and low cigarette costs."
— Judith Mackay, The Guardian, 21 August 2019

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is "The Tip of the Tongue!"

You know how sometimes you'll be reaching for a perfect word, and it's right there at the tip of your tongue, where you can almost taste it? Somehow that word is caught in the liminal space between your memory and your mouth. This month, let's play with that experience, and practice resolving it to our satisfaction.

I'll give you a short quote from Chris Palmer's heartfelt and eye-opening new book, Achieving a Good Death: A Practical Guide to the End of Life, along with a blank where Chris has deployed a truly perfect word. To help bring that word to the tip of your tongue, I'll describe it both physically and semantically.

Try this one today:

"Grief and love are _____ tied together. To live well means to love. To love means to feel gratitude and deep appreciation for another and thus to suffer one day from the piercing agony of grief."

The word is 5 syllables long, and it has an X near the beginning.

The word means "in a way where the two things can't be untangled from each other."

To reveal the right word, scroll to the bottom of the issue.

review this word:

1. Opposites of LAX include

A. SPRY and ENERGIZED.
B. FIRM and CONTROLLED.
C. FEISTY and CREATIVE.

2. According to Reuters, Twitter has faced criticism for its "lax _____."

A. use of bots
B. severance packages
C. protections against harmful content

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > LAX

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