- not tight, taut, firm, or tense; a slack rope.
- negligent; careless; remiss: slack proofreading.
- slow, sluggish, or indolent: He is slack in answering letters.
- not active or busy; dull; not brisk: the slack season in an industry.
- moving very slowly, as the tide, wind, or water.
- weak; lax.
- easy (def. 15a).
- in a slack manner.
- a slack condition or part.
- the part of a rope, sail, or the like, that hangs loose, without strain upon it.
- a decrease in activity, as in business or work: a sudden slack in output.
- a period of decreased activity.
- a cessation in a strong flow, as of a current at its turn.
- a depression between hills, in a hillside, or in the land surface.
- (in sprung rhythm) the unaccented syllable or syllables.
- a morass; marshy ground; a hollow or dell with soft, wet ground at the bottom.
- to be remiss in respect to (some matter, duty, right, etc.); leave undone; shirk: He slacked the most important part.
- to make or allow to become less active, vigorous, intense, etc.; relax (efforts, labor, speed, etc.); lessen; moderate (often followed by up).
- to make loose, or less tense or taut, as a rope; loosen (often followed by off or out).
- to slake (lime).
- to be remiss; shirk one's duty or part.
- to become less active, vigorous, rapid, etc. (often followed by up): Business is slacking up.
- to become less tense or taut, as a rope; to ease off.
- to become slaked, as lime.
- take up the slack,
- to pull in or make taut a loose section of a rope, line, wire, etc.: Take up the slack before releasing the kite.
- to provide or compensate for something that is missing or incomplete: New sources of oil will take up the slack resulting from the embargo.
- the fine screenings of coal.
- not tight, tense, or taut
- negligent or careless
- (esp of water, etc) moving slowly
- (of trade, etc) not busy
- phonetics another term for lax (def. 4)
- in a slack manner
- a part of a rope, etc, that is slack
- a period of decreased activity
- a patch of water without current
- a slackening of a current
- (in sprung rhythm) the unstressed syllable or syllables
- to neglect (one's duty, etc)
- to loosen; to make slack
- chem a less common word for slake (def. 3)
- small pieces of coal with a high ash content