Meanings
plural laxities
- countableuncountableMoral looseness; lack of rigorousness or strictness.
It is no accident that capital punishment is reentering our society on the wave of the conservative reaction to the permissiveness and laxity of the past two decades.
1981 April 5, Theodore Solotaroff, “REVIVING THE ANCIENT ART OF EXECUTION”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 22 Sep 20251 more example
In these days of laxity, and anythingism in religion, even those of whom we might hope better things do not appear exercised, with the apostle Paul, to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men.
1880, The Gospel standard, or Feeble Christian's support
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe state of being lax; looseness, lack of tension.
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe quality of being lax and neglectful
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinlaxitas, laxitatem
- Middle Frenchlaxité
- Englishlaxity
Borrowed from Middle French laxité, itself borrowed from Latin laxitas, laxitatem, from laxus. By surface analysis, lax + -ity.
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Czech nedbalost, laxnost
- nedbalostlaxness
- laxnostlaxness
Hindi शिथिलता
- शिथिलता (śithiltā)laxness
Spanish laxidad
- laxidadlaxness
Cite this entry
laxity. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/laxity
“laxity.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/laxity. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “laxity,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/laxity.
Source: laxity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.