Flinch vs Slacken - What's the difference?
flinch | slacken |
A reflexive jerking away.
To make a sudden, involuntary movement in response to a (usually negative) stimulus.
* John Locke
To dodge (a question), to avoid an unpleasant task or duty
To let the foot slip from a ball, when attempting to give a tight croquet.
To gradually decrease in intensity or tautness; to become slack.
* 1900 , , The House Behind the Cedars , Chapter I,
* 1908 ,
To make slack, less taut, or less intense.
* 1986 , Mari Sandoz, The Horsecatcher?
To deprive of cohesion by combining chemically with water; to slake.
As verbs the difference between flinch and slacken
is that flinch is to make a sudden, involuntary movement in response to a (usually negative) stimulus while slacken is to gradually decrease in intensity or tautness; to become slack.As a noun flinch
is a reflexive jerking away.flinch
English
Noun
(es)- My eye doctor hates the flinch I have every time he tries to get near my eyes.
Verb
- A child, by a constant course of kindness, may be accustomed to bear very rough usage without flinching or complaining.
References
slacken
English
Verb
(en verb)- The pace slackened .
- During this interlude, Warwick, though he had slackened his pace measurably, had so nearly closed the gap between himself and them as to hear the old woman say, with the dulcet negro intonation:...
- He seemed tired, and the Rat let him rest unquestioned, understanding something of what was in his thoughts; knowing, too, the value all animals attach at times to mere silent companionship, when the weary muscles slacken and the mind marks time.
- Elk slackened the rope so he could walk farther away, and together they went awkwardly up the trail toward the grassy little flat...
- to slack lime
