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1. Rest from work; become less busy, tense or anxious
   "He relaxed in the hot tub"; "Let's all relax after a hard day's work";
   - loosen up, unbend, unwind, decompress, slow down
    
2. Cause to feel relaxed
   "A hot bath always relaxes me";
   - unstrain, unlax, loosen up, unwind, make relaxed
    
3. Make less taut
   "relax the tension on the rope";
   - unbend
    
4. Become loose, looser or less tight
   "the rope relaxed";
   - loosen, loose
    
5. Become less tense, less formal, or less restrained, and assume a friendlier manner
   "our new colleague relaxed when he saw that we were a friendly group";
   - loosen up
    
6. Make less severe or strict
   "The government relaxed the curfew after most of the rebels were caught";
   - loosen
    
7. Become less severe or strict
   "The rules relaxed after the new director arrived";
   - loosen, soften
    
8. Make less active or fast
   "Don't relax your efforts now";
   - slack, slacken, slack up

Derived forms: relaxing, relaxes, relaxed

Type of: act, affect, alter, behave, change, change state, decrease, do, lessen, loose, loosen, minify, modify, turn, weaken

Antonym: stiffen

Encyclopedia: Relax, Take It Easy