Adjective

(er)

Lax; not tense; not hard drawn; not firmly extended.

a slack rope

Weak; not holding fast.

a slack hand

Remiss; backward; not using due diligence or care; not earnest or eager.

slack in duty or service

* Bible, 2 Peter iii. 9

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness.

Not violent, rapid, or pressing.

Business is slack .

* {{quote-book, year=1928, author=Lawrence R. Bourne

, title=Well Tackled! , chapter=3 citation , passage=“They know our boats will stand up to their work,” said Willison, “and that counts for a good deal. A low estimate from us doesn't mean scamped work, but just for that we want to keep the yard busy over a slack time.”}}

(slang, West Indies) vulgar; sexually explicit, especially in dancehall music

Adjective

(en adjective)

(of motion) Pertaining to the direction towards the back.

They left without a backward glance.

(of motion) Pertaining to the direction reverse of normal.

The occasional backward movement of planets is evidence they revolve around the sun.

Reluctant or unable to advance.

* 1919 ,

Then her eyes, always alert for the affairs of her kitchen, fell on some action of the Chinese cook which aroused her violent disapproval. She turned on him with a torrent of abuse. The Chink was not backward to defend himself, and a very lively quarrel ensued.

* Don't be backward in suggesting story ideas to local media but always think of the wants, needs and desires of their readers when selling-in story ideas.[http://www.mortgagemagazine.com.au/detail_article.cfm?articleID=364]

Of a culture considered undeveloped or unsophisticated.

* Most cruelly, the immediate security interests of the United States and the states surrounding Somalia are now to keep it a failed state, to prevent Islamists from consolidating even a weak state centered on Mogadishu. The leader of the victorious faction, one Aden Hashi 'Ayro, is said to be a veteran of Afghanistan; he knows well what a small sanctuary in a backward corner of the globe can mean for al Qaeda. [http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2006/06/1851044]

Pertaining to a thought or value that is considered outdated.

* Replace the morbid, bankrupting, backward idea of superpower domination: Weapons dismantled. Global warming reversed. Perhaps, in time, overpopulation, poverty, starvation, ignorance and disease all resolved. Thus, moral determination combined with 21st Century science, ecology and social initiatives will make possible a resonant fulfillment of our American Revolution [http://www.counterpunch.org/bice01042003.html]

(cricket) On that part of the field behind the batsman's popping crease.

(cricket) Further behind the batsman's popping crease than something else.

(obsolete) Unwilling; averse; reluctant.

* Alexander Pope

For wiser brutes were backward to be slaves.

Slow to apprehend; having difficulties in learning.

a backward child

Late or behindhand.

a backward season

(obsolete) Already past or gone; bygone.

* Byron

and flies unconscious o'er each backward year