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Pronunciation Guide
HOW TO PRONOUNCE

slack

/slæk/

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What does slack mean?

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.
More meanings (26)

noun

  1. A low-lying marsh or a pool, especially a tidal or intermittent one which periodically fills and drains.
  2. Unconditional listening attention given by client to patient.
  3. Attributive form of slacks (“semi-formal trousers”).
  4. A temporary speed restriction where track maintenance or engineering work is being carried out at a particular place.
  5. A valley, or small, shallow dell; a sag or saddle in a ridge.
  6. 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.
  7. Small coal; coal dust.

adjective

  1. Lax; not tense; not firmly extended.
  2. Weak; not holding fast.
  3. Moderately warm.
  4. Moderate in speed.
  5. Lacking diligence or care; not earnest or eager.
  6. Not active or busy, successful, or violent.
  7. Excess; surplus to requirements.
  8. (slang) Vulgar; sexually explicit, especially in dancehall music.
  9. Lax.

adverb

  1. Slackly.

verb

  1. To slacken.
  2. To lose cohesion or solidity by a chemical combination with water; to slake.
  3. To refuse to work as hard as one is supposed to.
  4. (obsolete) To mitigate; to reduce the strength of.

proper noun

  1. A surname.
  2. A hamlet in Ashover parish, North East Derbyshire district, Derbyshire (OS grid ref SK3362).
  3. A hamlet in Heptonstall parish, Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, West Yorkshire (OS grid ref SD9828).
  4. A hamlet in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, near Outlane, West Yorkshire (OS grid ref SE0817).
  5. A real-time collaboration app and platform launched in 2013.
Wiktionary contributors Wiktionary contributors

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/slæk/

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

The springs there were wound so tight that it would be a long while before there was any slack in them.
Willa CatherThe Song of the LarkProject Gutenberg ebook #44
The boats were bumping so heavily that I had to slack away the painter of the Stancomb Wills and put her astern.
Ernest Henry, Sir ShackletonSouth: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition, 1914-1917Project Gutenberg ebook #5199
More book examples (3)
There, there it dangles,--where's the little truth That can for long keep footing under that When its slack syllables tighten to a thought?
Edna St. Vincent MillayRenascence, and Other PoemsProject Gutenberg ebook #109
“Well,” said his wife, after the business of the tea-table was getting rather slack, “and what have they been doing in the Senate?”
Harriet Beecher StoweUncle Tom's CabinProject Gutenberg ebook #203
Perhaps its opposition wire is too tight, in which case slacken it, and possibly you will find that will tighten the slack wire.
H. (Horatio) BarberThe Aeroplane SpeaksProject Gutenberg ebook #818