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Enjoy vs Relax - What's the difference?

enjoy | relax |

As verbs the difference between enjoy and relax

is that enjoy is to receive pleasure or satisfaction from something while relax is to calm down.

enjoy

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To receive pleasure or satisfaction from something
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.}}
  • To have the use or benefit of something.
  • * Bible, Numbers xxxvi. 8
  • that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers
  • * 1988 , Harry G Frankfurt, The importance of what we care about: philosophical essays
  • This account fails to provide any basis for doubting that animals of subhuman species enjoy the freedom it defines.
  • To have sexual intercourse with.
  • (Milton)

    Usage notes

    * This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing) . See

    Derived terms

    * enjoyable * enjoyment * to enjoy oneself

    relax

    English

    Verb

    (es)
  • To calm down.
  • To make something loose.
  • to relax''' a rope or cord; to '''relax the muscles or sinews
  • * Milton
  • Horror all his joints relaxed .
  • To become loose.
  • To make something less severe or tense.
  • to relax''' discipline; to '''relax one's attention or endeavours
  • To become less severe or tense.
  • To make something (such as codes and regulations) more lenient.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • The stature of mortmain was at several times relaxed by the legislature.
    {{quote-book
    , year=1953 , author=Edward Corwin , title=The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation , chapter=Section 2. Jurisdiction citation , page=589 , passage=The Court rejected the contention that the doctrine of sovereign immunity should be relaxed as inapplicable to suits for specific relief as distinguished from damage suits, saying: "The Government, as representative of the community as a whole, cannot be stopped in its tracks by any plaintiff who presents a disputed question of property or contract right."}}
  • (of codes and regulations) To become more lenient.
  • To relieve (something) from stress.
  • Amusement relaxes the mind.
  • (dated) To relieve from constipation; to loosen; to open.
  • An aperient relaxes the bowels.

    Antonyms

    * stress, excite

    Derived terms

    * relaxable

    Anagrams

    * ----