lax-

To loosen; to widen.

Showing or having very little strength, energy, or activity: "The congress has been proceeding at a languid pace to complete the legislation."

"It has been hot and languid for several days this summer."

A reference to having or showing very little energy or strength: "His mother was leaning languidly against the wall for support."

1. To exist, or to remain, in an unpleasant, difficult, or unwanted situation, sometimes for a long time: "He is an innocent man who has been languishing in prison for the past ten years."
2. To have a desire for something or someone who is not present.
3. To become feeble, to degenerate, to deteriorate, or to grow worse: With such good medical care, he should have been gaining strength, but instead he has been languishing.
4. To remain unattended to or be neglected: "There is legislation that has continued to languish in committee for months."
5. Etymology: "fail in strength, exhibit signs of approaching death", from languiss-, languir, "to be listless"; from Vulgar Latin languire, which came from Latin languere, "to be weak" or "to faint".

1. A person who suffers misfortune.
2. Someone who becomes weak or feeble and loses vigor and vitality.
3. A person who exists or continues to live in miserable or disheartening conditions.

1. Not strict or careful enough.
2. Not tight or tense.

To loosen.

1. The action of making something loose, or the process of becoming loose.
2. Defecation.

1. Loosening; mildly purgative.
2. A drug or other substance that promotes bowel movements, either by irritating the lower colon or by bulking the feces.
3. Mildly cathartic.
4. An agent that acts to promote evacuation of the bowel.

1. A condition or fact of not being strict or careful enough.
2. Looseness; slackness, lacking in tension (in the muscular or nervous fibers, etc.).
3. Looseness of texture or cohesion; openness, uncompact structure or arrangement.
4. Looseness or slackness in the moral and intellectual spheres; lack of firmness, strictness, or precision.
5. Slackness or displacement (whether normal or abnormal) in the motion of a joint.

1. To spend time resting or doing things for pleasure, especially in contrast to or as a relief from the effort and stress of everyday life.
2. To become, or make someone or something, less anxious, hostile, defensive, or formal.
3. To slacken something that is tensed or tight, e.g. a muscle or a grip on something, or to become looser, less tense, or less tight.

1. A drug that reduces tension and strain, particularly in muscles.
2. Causing something such as a muscle to become less tense.

1. A form of activity that provides a change and relief from effort, work, or tension, and that gives pleasure.
2. The process of becoming or of making something less firm, rigid, or tight.

1. Under no strain or tension, and not exerting much strain or force on anything else.
2. Feeling no anxiety, tension, pressure, or sense of threat.
3. Loose-fitting and easy to wear.

1. A pleasing taste or flavor that gratifies the palate; hence, that which has an enjoyable quality or that is pleasing.
2. A taste for or a liking of, appetite for, or a fondness for something.
3. Something that is used to give a flavor; specifically, anything that is taken with food to make it more palatable or to stimulate the appetite for; such as, a condiment that is used to enhance the flavor of food; including, salt, pepper, or other kinds of flavorings.
4. Etymology: from Old French relais, reles, "something remaining, that which is left behind" from Old French relaisser, "to relinquish, to quit, to let go, to leave behind"; a variant of relacher "to release, to relax", from Latin relaxare, "to be wide, loose, open"; and Latin languere, "to be faint, to be weary" and languidis, "faint, weak, dull, sluggish, languid".