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📉 A drop in activity 🪢 Loose part 😴 To avoid work 🪨 Coal dust 🐢 To slow down 🔧 To loosen 🪢 Loose or not tight 🦆 Wet soft land 🪟 Not strict 🌊 Calm water 🧪 To add water
to slack

to slack

2 4.1
To make a rope, cable, or line less tight
  • verb
  • /slæk/
translation icon : aflojar
  • Quickly, Randi connects the new line to the line that still connects them, slack now, and loops it around the piton she has just set.
  • slack the line
  • muscles slacken
  • feel the grip slacken

Examples

  • Stand by to clue up the fore topsails! - Step lively up there now! - Slack away below!

    Captains Courageous (1937)

  • I slacked out a long scope, secured the cable at my end, and started slow ahead.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Tom, slacken off on that rope.

    Elmer Gantry (1960)

  • You're letting your line slack.

    True Colors (1991)

  • The fish unhooks when the line is slacked so that the process can be repeated.

    Academic text (1993)

  • I also have come to understand that Torrin prefers me to be on the lines at all times, rather than letting them go slack.

    Blog text (11)

  • He carefully slacked the rope to release the tension and make it easier to tie the knot.

  • After adjusting the rigging, she slacked the line to prevent it from being too tight.

  • To allow for some movement, he slacked the cable attached to the winch.

Synonyms

to loosen
vsto slack
88 1.0

Make something less tight so it can move or open

is used mainly for ropes or similar objects to release tension
to loose
vsto slack
30 3.0

To let something go free or make it less tight

is used more for reducing tightness on ropes rather than full release
to slacken
vsto slack
1 5.5

Become or make less tight, like a rope

is mainly used to actively release tension rather than occur naturally
to unloose
vsto slack
  • Archaic
1 7.0

To make something less tight or set something free

focuses specifically on reducing tension rather than freeing something completely
to unbend
vsto slack
6.0

Make a rope or line less tight

focuses on letting out tension, often on a rope or similar object
to unloosen
vsto slack
  • Archaic
7.2

To make something less tight or free it from something holding it

refers to letting out physical tension, especially on ropes, not removing rules

Antonyms

to tighten
145 1.5

To make something hold firmly, like a bolt or belt

Phrasal Verbs

to slack off
  • Informal
3 3.9

To become less strong or busy

to cut slack
  • Informal
1 5.5

Treat someone less strictly because they are having trouble

to slack up
  • UK
1 5.7

Move, act, or work less quickly and with less energy

Compounds

slack water
  • Specialized
1 7.9

A time when a tidal river or sea is nearly still as the tide turns

slack tide
  • Specialized
1 7.0

A short time when the water is almost still before the current changes direction

slack Alice
  • Offensive
9.9

A person who is often lazy and late finishing tasks

slack suit
  • Archaic
6.3

A casual matching set of trousers and jacket worn for informal occasions

How Loose

to loosen
88 1.0
to slack
2 4.1
to relax
78 1.0
to ease
119 2.4

Surface Forms

slack infinitive
slacked past
slacked past participle
slacking present participle
slacks third person singular

Etymology

Slack as a verb (to make less tight) comes from the same old word slak meaning 'loose', so to slack a rope is literally to make it 'loose' or less tight.