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Lax vs Derelict - What's the difference?

lax | derelict |

As an adjective derelict is

abandoned, forsake; given up or forsaken by the natural owner or guardian; (of a ship) abandoned at sea, dilapidated, neglected; (of a spacecraft) abandoned in outer space.

As a noun derelict is

property abandoned by its former owner, especially a ship abandoned at sea.

lax

English

Alternative forms

* (Killian)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) lax, from (etyl) .

Noun

(laxes)
  • A salmon.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl)

    Adjective

    (er)
  • lenient and allowing for deviation; not strict.
  • The rules are fairly lax , but you have to know which ones you can bend.
  • * J. A. Symonds
  • Society at that epoch was lenient, if not lax , in matters of the passions.
  • loose; not tight or taut.
  • The rope fell lax .
  • * Ray
  • the flesh of that sort of fish being lax and spongy
  • lacking care; neglectful, negligent
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=October 1 , author=Phil Dawkes , title=Sunderland 2 - 2 West Brom , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Prior to this match, Albion had only scored three league goals all season, but Wes Brown's lax marking allowed Morrison to head in their fourth from a Chris Brunt free-kick and then, a minute later, the initial squandering of possession and Michael Turner's lack of pace let Long run through to slot in another.}}
  • (archaic) Having a looseness of the bowels; diarrheal.
  • Synonyms
    * permissive, lenient * loose, slack
    Antonyms
    * strict * taut, tight

    Noun

    (-)
  • lacrosse
  • ----

    derelict

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Abandoned, forsake; given up or forsaken by the natural owner or guardian; (of a ship) abandoned at sea, dilapidated, neglected; (of a spacecraft) abandoned in outer space.
  • There was a derelict ship on the island.
  • * Jeremy Taylor
  • The affections which these exposed or derelict children bear to their mothers, have no grounds of nature or assiduity but civility and opinion.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , title=When and where did NASA's derelict satellite go down? citation
  • Negligent in performing a duty.
  • Lost; adrift; hence, wanting; careless; neglectful; unfaithful.
  • * Burke
  • They easily prevailed, so as to seize upon the vacant, unoccupied, and derelict minds of his friends; and instantly they turned the vessel wholly out of the course of his policy.
  • * John Buchanan
  • A government which is either unable or unwilling to redress such wrongs is derelict to its highest duties.

    Synonyms

    * (abandoned) abandoned

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Property abandoned by its former owner, especially a ship abandoned at sea.
  • * {{quote-book
  • , year=1907 , title=(The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses) , author=Robert W. Service , chapter=(The Cremation of Sam McGee) , passage=Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay; / It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May". / And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum; / Then "Here", said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum."}}
  • (dated) An abandoned or forsaken person; an outcast.
  • * 1911 Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax” (Norton 2005, p.1364):
  • A rather pathetic figure, the Lady Frances, a beautiful woman, still in fresh middle age, and yet, by a strange chance, the last derelict of what only twenty years ago was a goodly fleet.
  • A homeless and/or jobless person; a person who is (perceived as) negligent in their personal affairs and hygiene.
  • * 1988 , Jonathan D. Spence, The Question of Hu :
  • As they hunt, the Archers and Duval find many derelicts and ne'er-do-wells in many parts of Paris.
  • * 2002 , in The Cambridge Edition of the Works of D. H. Lawrence'', ''The Boy in the Bush , edited by Paul Eggert, page 22:
  • If they're lazy derelicts and ne'er-do-wells she'll eat 'em up. But she's waiting for real men — British to the bone —
  • * 2004 , Katherine V. W. Stone, From Widgets to Digits: Employment Regulation , page 280:
  • We see the distinction at work when victims of natural disasters and terrorist attacks are treated more generously than derelicts and drug addicts.

    See also

    * flotsam * jetsam * lagan * salvage