English Explanatory Dictionary

slack

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon it.
  2. A dip in a surface.
  3. In particular, a shallow dell or hollow; a dip in the surface of terrain, such as between hills.
  4. A low-lying marsh or a pool, especially a tidal or intermittent one which periodically fills and drains.
  5. Unconditional listening attention given by client to patient.
  6. Attributive form of slacks (“semi-formal trousers”).
adj
  1. Lax; not tense; not firmly extended.
  2. Weak; not holding fast.
  3. Moderate in some capacity.
  4. Moderately warm.
  5. Moderate in speed.
  6. Lacking diligence or care; not earnest or eager.
  7. Not active or busy, successful, or violent.
  8. Excess; surplus to requirements.
  9. Vulgar; sexually explicit, especially in dancehall music.
  10. Lax.
adv
  1. Slackly.
verb
  1. To slacken.
  2. To mitigate; to reduce the strength of.
  3. To lose cohesion or solidity by a chemical combination with water; to slake.
  4. To refuse to work as hard as one is supposed to.
noun
  1. A temporary speed restriction where track maintenance or engineering work is being carried out at a particular place.
noun
  1. A valley, or small, shallow dell; a sag or saddle in a ridge.
  2. A flat-bottomed, hollow zone within a sand-dune system that has developed over impervious strata, sometimes due to erosion or blow-out of the dune system; its flat base level is therefore close to or at the permanent water-table level, and therefore has rich, marshy flora, with Salix species (willows) as typical woody colonisers.
noun
  1. Small coal; coal dust.
name
  1. A surname.
  2. A place in England:
  3. A hamlet in Ashover parish, North East Derbyshire district, Derbyshire (OS grid ref SK3362).
  4. A hamlet in Heptonstall parish, Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, West Yorkshire (OS grid ref SD9828).
  5. A hamlet in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, near Outlane, West Yorkshire (OS grid ref SE0817).
  6. A real-time collaboration app and platform launched in 2013.

Pronunciation

/slæk/ En-au-slack.ogg

Word forms

slack slacks slacker slackest slacking slacked

Etymology

From Middle English slak, from Old English slæc (“slack”), from Proto-Germanic *slakaz. For sense of coal dust, compare slag.

Synonyms

slough slow moderate easy culm

Derived words

cut someone slack cut someone some slack Holme Slack pick up the slack slack action slack suit take up the slack forslack nonslack overslack slackadaisical slack Alice slack bob slacken slackery slack fill slackful slack-handed slackish slack-jawed slack-key slackline slackly slackness slackpack slack-rope slack space slacktivism slacktivist slack variable slack-water slack water slackwater slackwire unslack multislack slack off slack up nutty slack slack tub

Translations

Bulgarian: дребни въглища Catalan: carbonet Dutch: kolengruis Finnish: hiilipöly Finnish: hiilimurska French: gravier German: Schlacke Italian: carbonella Italian: polverino Macedonian: ја́гленов прав Macedonian: си́тен ја́глен Russian: у́гольная пы́ль Spanish: carbonilla Spanish: carboncillo Spanish: cisco Bulgarian: отпускам се Bulgarian: безделнича Dutch: treuzelen Finnish: velttoilla Finnish: viivytellä Finnish: vetelehtiä French: glander German: trödeln German: bummeln German: faulenzen German: faul sein Macedonian: се о́пушта Macedonian: безде́лничи Macedonian: се вле́чка Portuguese: enrolar Russian: ло́дырничать Russian: безде́льничать Russian: сачкова́ть Serbo-Croatian: odugovlačiti Spanish: haraganear Spanish: flojear
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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