different between slacker vs slacken

English

Etymology

From slack +? -er; compare especially slack off.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?slæk?/
• Rhymes: -æk?(r)

Noun

slacker (plural slackers)

1. One who procrastinates or is lazy.
2. A person lacking a sense of direction in life; an underachiever.
3. A person who seeks to avoid military service.
   • 1918 September 10, New York Times, "Take Slackers into Army",

     [S]everal hundred prisoners captured in North Jersey slacker raids last week and sent to this camp are being Inducted into military service today...

   • 1943 September 29, New York Times, "Wheeler assails Bureau 'Slackers'",

     Senator Burton K. Wheeler opened his fight in the Senate today..., raising the cry of "slackers" against deferred workers in Government establishments and industry.

4. (rare) A user of the Slackware Linux operating system.
   • 1996 August 15, stephen benson, "Re: How broken is Infomagic's Redhat linux?", comp.os.linux.setup, Usenet,

     I'm a slacker from way back btw

   • 2002 January 15, Josh, "Re: slackware installation issue", comp.os.linux, Usenet,

     Hope you become a happy slacker.

   • 2007 May 16, Dan C, "Re: Distro Poll, what do you use?", alt.os.linux, Usenet,

     Any real Slacker would know better than to top-post, AND post a bunch of HTML-crap to boot. You're not worthy.

5. A member of a certain 1990s subculture associated with Generation X.

Translations

Anagrams

• Clarkes, calkers, lackers, rackles, recalks

English

Etymology

From Middle English slakenen, equivalent to slack +? -en.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?slæ.k?n/
• Rhymes: -æk?n

Verb

slacken (third-person singular simple present slackens, present participle slackening, simple past and past participle slackened)

1. (intransitive) To gradually decrease in intensity or tautness; to become slack.

   The pace slackened.

   • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows:

     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.

2. (transitive) To make slack, less taut, or less intense.
   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, 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: […]

   • 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...

3. To deprive of cohesion by combining chemically with water; to slake.

   to slacken lime

Related terms

• slack
• slacker

Translations

Anagrams

• cankles, snackle