English

Adverb

laxly ‎(comparative more laxly, superlative most laxly)

1. In a lax manner; without rigor or strictness.
   • c. 1913, Walter Ripman, The Sounds of Spoken English: A Manual of Ear Training for English Students, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., p. 56,

     The letters e, i, and y in unstressed syllables represent a very laxly articulated sound, for which the sign [i] is used in this book.

   • 1945, Sinclair Lewis, Cass Timberlane: A Novel of Husbands and Wives, Chapter 45,

     A current of passion, which seemed to come from far outside them, ran through them both, and her hand which had lain so laxly on his shoulder tightened, and he turned toward her.

   • 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, 2001, Part One, Chapter 5,

     The oil families, whatever their original condition, were too grand. So they searched among the families in soft drinks, the families in ice, the transport families, the cinema families, the families in filling stations. And at last, in a laxly Presbyterian family with one filling station, two lorries, a cinema and some land, they found a girl.

   • 1999, Jeffrey Kluger, “Tears and Trembling,” Time, 4 October, 1999,

     Just which buildings survived was partly determined by which ones conformed to Taiwan’s sometimes laxly enforced construction codes.

Antonyms

• strictly
• tensely
• tightly