Make Your Point > Archived Issues > SLACKEN

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connect this word to others: What do slacks (the dress pants) have to do with slackers (the people who dodge work)? They're both loose, in a sense. Terms like slacks, slackers, slack-jaw, cut me some slack, pick up the slack, slacken and so on all derive from the Old English slæc, meaning "slow, loose, easy, gentle, lazy, or not energetic." Speaking of slacking, slackening, and slackers, see if you can recall a literary term for someone who lives a lazy, dreamy, luxurious, and forgetful life. It starts with L. make your point with... "SLACKEN" Something slack is slow, loose, weak, or not strict.  So, to slacken something is to slow it down or make it looser. And when something slackens on its own, it becomes slower, looser, weaker, or less strict. Pronunciation: SLACK en Part of speech: Verb, often the intransitive kind (something slackens, or something slackens off), but also the transitive kind (somebody slackens something, or one thing slackens another thing). Other forms: slackened, slackening How to use it:  This word is common, casual, and easy to understand, yet it still sounds graceful. It calls less attention to itself than "abate" and "mitigate." And I think it's worth our time to have a look at, so it can swoop in and help us when we're thinking, "I need a word that means...get less, or get less bad... The summer heat slackened. Bingo." What kinds of things can slacken, besides summer temperatures? Physical items that can hold tension, like ropes or sheets, or people's body postures or facial expressions. Movements, paces, and speeds. Active things, like markets and economies. Rules and systems that seem to have some level of rigidity. And feelings and attitudes that seem to have some level of firmness or tightness, like stress, tension, demand, interest, determination, enthusiasm, etc. examples: "[Tyler Skaggs] battled injuries throughout his career, but his belief in himself never slackened."    — Andy McCullough, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2019 "The tips of his ears flamed, and his face slackened as he realized what he’d just said."    — Sandhya Menon, When Dimple Met Rishi, 2017 has this page helped you understand "slacken"? 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 "slacken" without saying "ease up" or "subside." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "(Someone or something) slackened the rules, allowing _____." Example: "Three weeks into the semester, our teacher slackened the rules, allowing us to wander from our desks and doodle on the whiteboard." If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first. Our game this month: Anagrams! Rearrange the letters in the given word to form a word we've studied before. Try to recall its meaning, too.  For example, if I give you DYED, you give me EDDY. If I give you THREAD, you give me DEARTH. And if I give you COTERIES, you give me ESOTERIC. Try this one today: MEDICATE. Give yourself 5 points if you can figure out the word without clues. To reveal the clues, hover over the blue text below. Give yourself 4 points if you figure it out after peeking at the part of speech: Verb. Give yourself 3 points if you figure it out after peeking at the definition: to destroy a whole lot of something--or strictly speaking, ten percent of it. Give yourself 2 points if you figure it out after peeking at the first letter: D. Give yourself 1 point if you figure it out after peeking at the first two letters: DE. And if you'd like to reveal or review the word, click here. review this word: 1. A near opposite of SLACKEN is A. STRIP. B. STIFFEN. C. SUBSTANTIATE. 2. He got a _____ from one of the kittens in the purring pile, slackening his interest in them. A. sharp bite B. spirited nudge C. serene glance 1. B 2. A 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:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. 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.