different between cool vs slack

English

Alternative forms

• (slang) c00l, coo, k00l, kewl, kool, qewl, qool

Pronunciation

• enPR: ko?ol, IPA^(key): /ku?l/
• Rhymes: -u?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English cool, from Old English c?l (“cool, cold, tranquil, calm”), from Proto-West Germanic *k?l(?), from Proto-Germanic *k?laz, *k?luz (“cool”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“cold”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian köil (“cool”), West Frisian koel (“cool”), Dutch koel (“cool”), Limburgish kool (“cool”), German Low German köhl (“cool”), German kühl (“cool”). Related to cold.

Adjective

cool (comparative cooler, superlative coolest)

2. Having a slightly low temperature; mildly or pleasantly cold.

   Synonym: chilly

   Antonyms: lukewarm, tepid, warm
3. Allowing or suggesting heat relief.
4. Of a color, in the range of violet to green.

   Antonym: warm

5. Of a person, not showing emotion; calm and in control of oneself.

   Synonyms: distant, phlegmatic, standoffish, unemotional

   Antonym: passionate

6. Unenthusiastic, lukewarm, skeptical.

   Antonym: warm

7. Calmly audacious.
8. Applied facetiously to a sum of money, commonly as if to give emphasis to the largeness of the amount.

   • Who will lend me a cool hundred.

   • 1900, Dora Sigerson Shorter, Transmigration

     You remember Bulger, don't you? You lost a cool hundred to him one night here over the cards, eh?

   • 1944 November 28, Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe, Meet Me in St. Louis, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer:

     My father was talking to the World's Fair Commission yesterday, and they estimate it's going to cost a cool fifty million.

9. (informal) Of a person, knowing what to do and how to behave; considered popular by others.

   Antonyms: awkward, uncool
10. (informal) In fashion, part of or fitting the in crowd; originally hipster slang.

    Synonyms: à la mode, fashionable, in fashion, modish, stylish, happening, hip, in, trendy

    Antonyms: démodé, old hat, out, out of fashion

    • 2008, Lou Schuler, "Foreward", in Nate Green, Built for Show, page xii

      The fact that I was middle-aged, bald, married, and raising girls instead of chasing them didn't really bother me. Muscles are cool at any age.

11. (informal) Of an action, all right; acceptable; that does not present a problem.

    Synonyms: acceptable, all right, OK

    Antonyms: (UK) not cricket, not on, unacceptable

12. (informal) Of a person, not upset by circumstances that might ordinarily be upsetting.

    Synonyms: easy, fine, not bothered, not fussed

    Antonyms: bothered, upset

13. Quietly impudent, defiant, or selfish; deliberately presuming: said of persons and acts.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Chinese: ?
• ? Dutch: cool
• ? French: cool
• ? German: cool
• ? Polish: cool
• ? Spanish: cool
• ? Swedish: cool

Translations

Noun

cool (uncountable)

1. A moderate or refreshing state of cold; moderate temperature of the air between hot and cold; coolness.

   in the cool of the morning

2. A calm temperament.

   Synonyms: calmness, composure

3. The property of being cool, popular or in fashion.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English colen, from Old English c?lian (“to cool, grow cold, be cold”), from Proto-West Germanic *k?l?n (“to become cold”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to freeze”). Cognate with Dutch koelen (“to cool”), German kühlen (“to cool”), Swedish kyla (“to cool, refrigerate”). Also partially from Middle English kelen, from Old English c?lan (“to cool, be cold, become cold”), from Proto-Germanic *k?lijan? (“to cool”), altered to resemble the adjective cool. See keel.

Verb

cool (third-person singular simple present cools, present participle cooling, simple past and past participle cooled)

1. (intransitive, literally) To lose heat, to get colder.

   I like to let my tea cool before drinking it so I don't burn my tongue.

2. (transitive) To make cooler, less warm.
3. (figuratively, intransitive) To become less intense, e.g. less amicable or passionate.

   Relations cooled between the USA and the USSR after 1980.

4. (transitive) To make less intense, e.g. less amicable or passionate.
5. (transitive) To kill.
   • 1965, "Sex Jungle" (narrated in Perversion for Profit)

     Maybe he would die. That would mean I had murdered him. I smiled, trying the idea on for size. One of the things that always had cheesed me a little was that I had no kills to my credit. I'd been in plenty of rumbles, but somehow, I'd never cooled anyone. Well maybe now I had my first one. I couldn't feel very proud of skulling an old man, but at least I could say that I'd scored. That was a big kick.

Derived terms

Translations

References

• cool in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• cool at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Colo, Colo., colo, colo-, loco

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English cool. Doublet of koel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ku(?)l/
• Hyphenation: cool
• Rhymes: -ul
• Homophone: koel

Adjective

cool (comparative cooler, superlative coolst)

1. cool, fashionable

Inflection

French

Etymology

From English cool.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kul/
• Homophones: coule, coules, coulent

Adjective

cool (invariable)

1. cool (only its informal senses, mainly fashionable)

   Les jeunes sont cool.

   Young people are cool.

   Les jeunes boivent de l'alcool pour être cool.

   Young people drink alcohol to be cool.

Interjection

cool

1. cool! great!

Anagrams

• looc

German

Etymology

From English cool, from Proto-Germanic *k?laz. Doublet of kühl.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ku?l]

Adjective

cool (comparative cooler, superlative am coolsten)

1. (colloquial) cool (in its informal senses)

   Synonyms: brilliant, genial, geil
2. (colloquial) cool, calm, easy-going

   Synonyms: lässig, ruhig

Declension

Further reading

• “cool” in Duden online

Polish

Etymology

From English cool.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kul/

Adjective

cool (not comparable)

1. (slang) cool (in its informal senses)

   Synonyms: ?wietny, wspania?y, znakomity

Declension

Indeclinable.

Further reading

• cool in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• cool in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English cool

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kul/, [?kul]

Adjective

cool (plural cools or cool)

1. cool (in its informal sense)

Anagrams

• loco

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English cool.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ku?l/

Adjective

cool (comparative coolare, superlative coolast)

1. cool! great!

Declension

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /slæk/
• Rhymes: -æk

Etymology 1

From Middle English slak, from Old English slæc (“slack”), from Proto-Germanic *slakaz. For sense of coal dust, compare slag.

Noun

slack (countable and uncountable, plural slacks)

1. (uncountable) The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon it.

2. (countable) A tidal marsh or shallow that periodically fills and drains.
3. (uncountable, psychotherapy) Unconditional listening attention given by client to patient.
   • 1979, Richard Dean Rosen, Psychobabble (page 93)

     The counselor is directed to give his client "free attention," or "slack," performing a kind of vigil, a version of Carl Rogers's "unconditional positive regard."

   • 1983, Harvey Jackins, The Reclaiming of Power (page 14)

     We have apparently been doing this all our lives, since we were first distressed. This collection of ancient habits seems to be "energized" by the presence, or even the promise, of "slack" or free attention from any person in the situation […]

Synonyms

• (tidal marsh): slough

Translations

Adjective

slack (comparative slacker, superlative slackest)

1. (normally said of a rope) Lax; not tense; not firmly extended.

2. Weak; not holding fast.

3. Moderate in some capacity.
   1. Moderately warm.

   2. Moderate in speed.

4. lacking diligence or care; not earnest or eager.
5. Not active, successful, or violent.
6. Excess; surplus to requirements.

7. (slang, Caribbean, Jamaican) vulgar; sexually explicit, especially in dancehall music.
8. (linguistics) Lax.

Synonyms

• (not violent, rapid, or pressing): slow, moderate, easy

Derived terms

• slacken
• slack-jawed
• slackness

Translations

Adverb

slack (not comparable)

1. Slackly.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English slakken, slaken, from Old English slacian, from Proto-Germanic *slak?n? (“to slack, slacken”).

Verb

slack (third-person singular simple present slacks, present participle slacking, simple past and past participle slacked)

1. To slacken.

   • In this business of growing rich, poor men […] should slack their pace.

2. (obsolete) To mitigate; to reduce the strength of.
3. To lose cohesion or solidity by a chemical combination with water; to slake.

Derived terms

• slack off

Translations

Etymology 3

Either from the adjective in Etymology 1 or the verb in Etymology 2.

Noun

slack (plural slacks)

1. (rail transport) A temporary speed restriction where track maintenance or engineering work is being carried out at a particular place.

Etymology 4

From Middle English slak, from Old Norse slakki (“a slope”). Cognate with Icelandic slakki, Norwegian slakke.

Noun

slack (plural slacks)

1. (countable) A valley, or small, shallow dell.

Etymology 5

Probably from German Schlacke (“dross, slag”). Doublet of slag.

Noun

slack (uncountable)

1. (mining) Small coal; coal dust.
   • 1905, Colliery Engineer (volume 25, page 107)

     One of the important improvements of recent years has been attained by mixing the peat pulp as it passes through the grinding machine, with other inflammable materials, such as bituminous coal dust, or slack […]

Synonyms

• culm

Derived terms

• nutty slack

Anagrams

• calks, kcals, lacks