noun
laxity
LAK-suh-tee/ˈlæksəti/
Insufficient firmness or tightness.
The teacher's laxity allows pupils to throw paper airplanes and scribble on desks.
Etymology
The quality of being loose or slack extended from physical lack of firmness to moral and intellectual slackness. Laxity thus describes discipline or care that is insufficiently strict.
In context
his rigid self discipline, his ceaseless struggle to perfect himself, could in no way comprehend the laxity, the facile debauchery, the equally facile repentance
More examples
- The doctor checks for laxity in the injured knee.
- Skin laxity increases with age.
- The principal criticizes the school's laxity in enforcing attendance rules.
Forms
laxity
lax adjective — Not sufficiently strict, firm, or tight.
Similar words
- looseness
- Describes a lack of tightness without necessarily suggesting a problem.
- slackness
- Emphasizes insufficient tension or a lack of effort and care.
- leniency
- Suggests deliberate mildness in enforcement rather than inadequate discipline.