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Slacken vs Taper - What's the difference?

slacken | taper | Related terms |

Slacken is a related term of taper.


In lang=en terms the difference between slacken and taper

is that slacken is to make slack, less taut, or less intense while taper is to diminish gradually.

As verbs the difference between slacken and taper

is that slacken is to gradually decrease in intensity or tautness; to become slack while taper is to make thinner or narrower at one end.

As a noun taper is

a slender wax candle; a small lighted wax candle; hence, a small light or taper can be (weaving) one who operates a tape machine.

slacken

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To gradually decrease in intensity or tautness; to become slack.
  • The pace slackened .
  • * 1900 , , The House Behind the Cedars , Chapter I,
  • 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:...
  • * 1908 ,
  • 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.
  • To make slack, less taut, or less intense.
  • * 1986 , Mari Sandoz, The Horsecatcher?
  • Elk slackened the rope so he could walk farther away, and together they went awkwardly up the trail toward the grassy little flat...
  • To deprive of cohesion by combining chemically with water; to slake.
  • to slack lime

    Anagrams

    *

    taper

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) taper, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A slender wax candle; a small lighted wax candle; hence, a small light.
  • * ~1603 , William Shakespeare, ''Othello, Act I, scene I, line 157:
  • strike on the tinder, ho!/ Give me a taper .
  • * 1913 ,
  • Love used to carry a bow, you know,
    But now he carries a taper ;
    It is either a length of wax aglow,
    Or a twist of lighted paper.
  • A tapering form; gradual diminution of thickness and/or cross section in an elongated object
  • the taper of a spire.
    The legs of the table had a slight taper to them.
  • A thin stick used for lighting candles, either a wax-coated wick or a slow-burning wooden rod.
  • Derived terms
    * taperwise

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make thinner or narrower at one end.
  • * 1851 ,
  • Though true cylinders without — within, the villanous green goggling glasses deceitfully tapered downwards to a cheating bottom.
  • To diminish gradually.
  • Derived terms
    * taper off
    Synonyms
    * narrow

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (weaving) One who operates a tape machine.
  • Someone who works with tape or tapes.
  • Anagrams

    * ----