lax
1
8.3
- adjective
- /læks/
- Specialized
:
laxo
- The flesh around his mouth, usually a bit lax, remained taut.
- a lax vowel
- tense-lax contrast
- a lax vowel pair
Examples
-
And, you know, that seems to be more, you know, LAX, more relaxed, not an old, you know, clubhouse.
-
In real life, however, a writer cannot be overly lax, so as not to let people guess that in his books he tells the truth about himself.
Academic text (2012) -
It's a fact about English LAX vowels that there's a restriction on their distribution.
-
The vowels in the word 'bet' are pronounced with muscles of the tongue relaxed, giving them a lax quality.
-
Children often find it easier to pronounce lax vowels like those in 'met' compared to tense vowels.
-
In phonetics, lax vowels are characterized by less tension in the tongue during pronunciation.
Synonyms
A speech sound made with little muscle effort in the mouth, like the vowel in 'bit'
Antonyms
- Specialized
33
8.8
A vowel sound made with tighter tongue muscles and often longer, as in beat
Compounds
How Tense
- Specialized
33
8.8
- Specialized
1
8.3
Surface Forms
Etymology
Lax comes from the Latin laxus, which means 'loose', and it is the same root as relax. In phonetics a lax vowel is made with the tongue and jaw more 'relaxed' or loose, so the word fits the sound it describes.