Lexic.us

Definition of Relax

1. Verb. Become less tense, rest, or take one's ease. "Sam and Sue relax"; "Let's all relax after a hard day's work"

2. Verb. Make less taut. "Relax the tension on the rope"

3. Verb. Become loose or looser or less tight. "The rope relaxed"

4. Verb. Cause to feel relaxed. "The performance is likely to relax Sue"; "A hot bath always relaxes me"

5. Verb. Become less tense, less formal, or less restrained, and assume a friendlier manner. "Our new colleague relaxed when he saw that we were a friendly group"

6. Verb. Make less severe or strict. "The government relaxed the curfew after most of the rebels were caught"

7. Verb. Become less severe or strict. "The rules relaxed after the new director arrived"

8. Verb. Make less active or fast. "Don't relax your efforts now"

Definition of Relax

1. v. t. To make lax or loose; to make less close, firm, rigid, tense, or the like; to slacken; to loosen; to open; as, to relax a rope or cord; to relax the muscles or sinews.

2. v. i. To become lax, weak, or loose; as, to let one's grasp relax.

3. n. Relaxation.

4. a. Relaxed; lax; hence, remiss; careless.

Definition of Relax

1. Verb. (transitive) To make something loose. ¹

2. Verb. (intransitive) To become loose. ¹

3. Verb. (transitive) To make something less severe or tense. ¹

4. Verb. (intransitive) To become less severe or tense. ¹

5. Verb. (transitive) To make something (such as codes and regulations) more lenient. ¹

6. Verb. (intransitive of codes and regulations) To become more lenient. ¹

7. Verb. (transitive) To relieve (something) from stress. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Relax

1. to make less tense or rigid [v -ED, -ING, -ES]

Medical Definition of Relax

1. 1. To make lax or loose; to make less close, firm, rigid, tense, or the like; to slacken; to loosen; to open; as, to relax a rope or cord; to relax the muscles or sinews. "Horror . . . All his joints relaxed." (Milton) "Nor served it to relax their serried files." (Milton) 2. To make less severe or rogorous; to abate the stringency of; to remit in respect to strenuousness, esrnestness, or effort; as, to relax discipline; to relax one's attention or endeavors. "The stature of mortmain was at several times relaxed by the legilature." (Swift) 3. Hence, to relieve from attention or effort; to ease; to recreate; to divert; as, amusement relaxes the mind. 4. To relieve from constipation; to loosen; to open; as, an aperient relaxes the bowels. Synonym: To slacken, loosen, loose, remit, abate, mitigate, ease, unbend, divert. Origin: L. Relaxare; pref. Re- re- + laxare to loose, to slacken, from laxus loose. See Lax, and cf. Relay, Release. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Relax

relativizes relativizing relator relators relatrices relatrix relatum relaunch relaunched relaunches

relaunching relaunder relaundered relaundering relaunders relax'd relaxable relaxant relaxant reversal relaxants

relaxase relaxation relaxation behavior relaxation factor relaxation method relaxation response relaxation suture relaxation techniques relaxation time

Literary usage of Relax

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. English Synonymes Explained in Alphabetical Order: With Copious by George Crabb (1881)
"TO relax, REMIT. THE general idea of lessening is that which allies these words to each other; but they differ very widely in their original meaning, ..."

2. A Treatise on the Law of Bailments: Including Carriers, Innkeepers and Pledge by James Schouler (1897)
"The Same Subject; Carrier's Own Vigilance should not relax. — The judicial inclination appears to be, furthermore, against accepting the carrier's plea of ..."

3. Remains, Historical and Literary, Connected with the Palatine Counties of by Chetham Society (1845)
"(f) THE ENGLISH PRESBYTERIANS, ALTHOUGH PERSECUTED, DO NOT relax IN THEIR ACTIVITY ... Persecution did not, however, relax to the slightest degree the ..."

4. The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini by Benvenuto Cellini (1910)
"at last I ventured to relax my rigid diet, I found myself as wholly free from those infirmities as though I had been born again. Although I took pleasure in ..."

5. The Harvard Classics by Charles William Eliot (1910)
"at last I ventured to relax my rigid diet, I found myself as wholly free from those infirmities as though I had been born again. Although I took pleasure in ..."

Other Resources: