From Middle English relaxen, from Old French relaxer, from Latin relaxāre (“relax, loosen, open”), from re- (“back”) + laxāre (“loosen”), from laxus (“loose, free”).

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈlæks/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æks

relax (third-person singular simple present relaxes, present participle relaxing, simple past and past participle relaxed)

1. (transitive) To calm down.
2. (transitive) To make something loose.

   to relax a rope or cord

   to relax the muscles or sinews

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Horror […] all his joynts relax'd.

3. (intransitive) To become loose.
   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     I relax in the living room.

4. (transitive) To make something less severe or tense.

   to relax discipline

   to relax one's attention or endeavours

5. (intransitive) To become less severe or tense.
6. (transitive) To make something (such as codes and regulations) more lenient.
   • 1713, Jonathan Swift, A Preface to Bishop Burnet's Introduction:

     The statute of mortmain […] was at several times relaxed by the legislature.

   • 1953, “Section 2. Jurisdiction”, in Edward Samuel Corwin, editor, The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation‎^[1], page 589:

     The Court rejected the contention that the doctrine of sovereign immunity should be relaxed as inapplicable to suits for specific relief as distinguished from damage suits, saying: "The Government, as representative of the community as a whole, cannot be stopped in its tracks by any plaintiff who presents a disputed question of property or contract right."

7. (intransitive, of codes and regulations) To become more lenient.
8. (transitive) To relieve (something) from stress.

   Amusement relaxes the mind.

9. (transitive, dated) To relieve from constipation; to loosen; to open.

   An aperient relaxes the bowels.

• stress, excite

• relaxable
• overrelax, underrelax

• relaxation

• laxer, raxle

• relaxe

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.laks/
• Homophone: relaxe

relax (feminine relaxe, masculine plural relax, feminine plural relaxes)

1. relaxed

   Synonyms: calme, décontracté, détendu, serein, zen

• “relax”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• “relax” in Dictionnaire français en ligne Larousse.

Pseudo-anglicism, a clipping of relaxation.

• IPA^(key): /reˈlaks/^[1]
• Rhymes: -aks
• Hyphenation: re‧làx

relax m (invariable)

1. relaxation (mental or physical)

Pseudo-anglicism, shortening of English relaxation or erroneous borrowing of English relax.

• IPA^(key): /reˈlaɡs/ [reˈlaɣ̞s]
• Rhymes: -aɡs
• Syllabification: re‧lax

relax m (uncountable)

1. relaxation

• “relax”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10