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Glite Dictionary
📉 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

26 6.3
To avoid work or duties and be lazy
  • verb
  • /slæk/
  • Informal
translation icon : escaquearse
  • Must be nice to have a job that lets you slack off all day.

Sometimes I slack, some days I'm pretty useless, other days I work really hard.

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Examples

  • I think we all have a tendency to "slack off" a bit when we're sick - my goodness!

    Blog text (13)

  • As I said, this time I am determined not to slack off on my blogging.

    Blog text (17)

  • Now, I know you like to slack off, but how about you shoot some film for us?

    Capsule (2015)

  • And with the way our new members are slacking, we're gonna have to step it up.

    Step Up 2: The Streets (2008)

  • Princess X has been slacking off.

    Cam (2018)

  • Are they gonna dock you for slacking on the job?

    The Darkest Minds (2018)

  • Even if the boss thought I was slacking, I'd know right away.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Don't you even think about slacking off.

    Heart of Champions (2021)

  • We don't want the Commander coming out and catching us slacking, do we?

    Fiction book (2001)

  • If you continue to slack on your assignments, you may not pass the course.

Synonyms

to slug
vsto slack
  • Informal
2 7.7

To spend time doing nothing useful

focuses on deliberately avoiding duties and shirking assigned work
to frig around
vsto slack
  • Slang
9.9

To waste time instead of doing something useful

suggests avoiding duties more directly and refusing assigned work
to piddle away
vsto slack
  • Informal
8.6

Spend time or money on unimportant things

focuses on avoiding responsibilities at a task rather than wasting resources

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 Hardworking

to strive
156 3.7
to loaf
7 6.2
to slack
  • Informal
26 6.3
to shirk
19 6.3

Surface Forms

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

Etymology

Slack (to avoid work or be lazy) grew from the idea of being 'slow' or 'loose' in action, the same old root slak, which is why a person who does not try is called a 'slacker' and to slack off is to be idle.