slack.
The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon it.
Meaning & usage
The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon it.
the slack of a rope or of a sail
take in the slack
A dip in a surface.
In particular, a shallow dell or hollow; a dip in the surface of terrain, such as between hills.
A low-lying marsh or a pool, especially a tidal or intermittent one which periodically fills and drains.
Unconditional listening attention given by client to patient.
Attributive form of slacks (“semi-formal trousers”).
Where this word comes from
From Middle English slak, from Old English slæc (“slack”), from Proto-Germanic *slakaz. For sense of coal dust, compare slag.
Lax; not tense; not firmly extended.
a slack rope
Weak; not holding fast.
a slack hand
Moderate in some capacity. Moderately warm.
a slack oven
Moderate in some capacity. Moderate in speed.
a slack wind
Lacking diligence or care; not earnest or eager.
slack in duty or service
Not active or busy, successful, or violent.
Business is slack.
the slack period following the main tourist season
Excess; surplus to requirements.
the slack capacity of an oil pipeline
Vulgar; sexually explicit, especially in dancehall music.
Lax.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English slak, from Old English slæc (“slack”), from Proto-Germanic *slakaz. For sense of coal dust, compare slag.
Slackly.
slack dried hops
Her clothes hung slack on her.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English slak, from Old English slæc (“slack”), from Proto-Germanic *slakaz. For sense of coal dust, compare slag.
To slacken.
To mitigate; to reduce the strength of.
To lose cohesion or solidity by a chemical combination with water; to slake.
Lime slacks.
To refuse to work as hard as one is supposed to.
I can't afford to slack. This job is all I have!
Where this word comes from
From Middle English slakken, slaken, from Old English slacian, from Proto-Germanic *slakōną (“to slack, slacken”).
A temporary speed restriction where track maintenance or engineering work is being carried out at a particular place.
Where this word comes from
Either from the adjective in Etymology 1 or the verb in Etymology 2.
A valley, or small, shallow dell; a sag or saddle in a ridge.
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.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English slak, from Old Norse slakki (“a slope”). Cognate with Icelandic slakki, Norwegian slakke.
Small coal; coal dust.
Where this word comes from
Of unknown origin. Possibly related to Middle Dutch slacke or Middle Low German slecke. Doublet of slag.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.