SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
lax
adjective
Not sufficiently strict, careful, or attentive.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Not strict or careful
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topLax often criticizes inadequate care or enforcement; lenient can describe a deliberate and reasonable reduction in severity.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See lax in use
Lax record keeping made the borrowed equipment difficult to trace.
A negligent proofreader accepted responsibility for checking contributor names but skipped the task and marked the guide as reviewed anyway. The group's lax checking routine allowed that unexplained approval to pass without anyone asking which source had been used.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license