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Verb: relax  ri'laks
  1. Rest from work; become less busy, tense or anxious
    "He relaxed in the hot tub"; "Let's all relax after a hard day's work";
    - loosen up, unbend, unwind, decompress, slow down
     
  2. Cause to feel relaxed
    "A hot bath always relaxes me";
    - unstrain, unlax, loosen up, unwind, make relaxed
     
  3. Make less taut
    "relax the tension on the rope";
    - unbend
     
  4. Become loose, looser or less tight
    "the rope relaxed";
    - loosen, loose
     
  5. Become less tense, less formal, or less restrained, and assume a friendlier manner
    "our new colleague relaxed when he saw that we were a friendly group";
    - loosen up
     
  6. Make less severe or strict
    "The government relaxed the curfew after most of the rebels were caught";
    - loosen
     
  7. Become less severe or strict
    "The rules relaxed after the new director arrived";
    - loosen, soften
     
  8. Make less active or fast
    "Don't relax your efforts now";
    - slack, slacken, slack up

Derived forms: relaxing, relaxes, relaxed

Type of: act, affect, alter, behave, change, change state, decrease, do, lessen, loose, loosen, minify, modify, turn, weaken

Antonym: stiffen

Encyclopedia: Relax, Take It Easy