What's the difference between slack and smack?

Slack


Definition:

  • (n.) Small coal; also, coal dust; culm.
  • (n.) A valley, or small, shallow dell.
  • (superl.) Lax; not tense; not hard drawn; not firmly extended; as, a slack rope.
  • (superl.) Weak; not holding fast; as, a slack hand.
  • (superl.) Remiss; backward; not using due diligence or care; not earnest or eager; as, slack in duty or service.
  • (superl.) Not violent, rapid, or pressing; slow; moderate; easy; as, business is slack.
  • (adv.) Slackly; as, slack dried hops.
  • (n.) The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon it; as, the slack of a rope or of a sail.
  • (a.) Alt. of Slacken
  • (v. t.) Alt. of Slacken

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It arguably became too comfortable for Rodgers' team, with complacency and slack defending proving a dangerous brew.
  • (2) October 23, 2013 And on unemployment: The recent reduction in the unemployment rate [to 7.7%] indicated that slack in the economy was, as anticipated, being eroded as activity picked up.
  • (3) The press secretary sitting in on the interview looks slack-jawed with shock.
  • (4) Aside from a couple of slack passes early on, there has been no hint of an Italian breakthrough and the Ticos have carried a threat going forward.
  • (5) Chelsea simply cannot afford to be so slack in possession.
  • (6) Experiments were performed to determine the influence of sarcomere length and passive tension on the velocity of unloaded shortening (Vu) as measured by the slack test technique.
  • (7) The irradiated grafts relaxed less and generated less slack length in the drip environment than the nonirradiated controls.
  • (8) Executives from companies including Twitter, Netflix and Slack made donations of the $6,000 legal limit, according to campaign finance reports filed on Tuesday.
  • (9) Unloaded shortening velocity obtained from length steps of different magnitude (slack test) also showed a gradual decrease after the release, consistent with the isotonic release results.
  • (10) The narrative drivers are pretty slack – improbable dialogue ("I'm a very wealthy man, Miss Steele, and I have expensive and absorbing hobbies"); lame characterisation; irritating tics (a constant war between Steele's "subconscious", which is always fainting or putting on half-moon glasses, and her "inner goddess", who is forever pouting and stamping); and an internal monologue that goes like this … "Holy hell, he's hot!
  • (11) That's great that you're able to pick up the slack.'
  • (12) By taking up the slack in the economy – millions of people are underemployed, working fewer hours than they wish – Britain could enjoy fast catch-up growth of the kind it experienced as it recovered from the Great Depression: between 1933 and 1936 UK growth exceeded 4% per year, fuelled by a house building boom.
  • (13) Then I had to wait for God knows how long until Will Adamsdale wheeled it out again for the stragglers, and when he did, I rolled up and watched slack-jawed.
  • (14) The effect of the enzyme collagenase (40-200 units-ml-1) on the spontaneous mechanical activity in vitro and on the fine structure of the activity of the taenia was enhanced both in the isometric and isotonic recordings; after several minutes the muscles became slack or elongated to up to twice their resting lengths.
  • (15) But despite a rapid fall in unemployment – forecast to tumble to 6.3%, the IMF said there was still slack in the labour market.
  • (16) Quique Sánchez Flores: Watford interested in Andros Townsend Read more Watford were uncharacteristically slack, leaving the head coach, Quique Sánchez Flores, to admit “we were not competitive”.
  • (17) Improved estimates of Vu in living fibres were obtained by photographically calibrating the slack test.
  • (18) This complication was caused by certain circumstances: 1. unnoticed perforation of oesophagus, 2. open tube, 3. inspiration against resistance, 4. tube tip placed in slack connective tissue.
  • (19) Alas we fear season three might mean more slouchy tees and boot-cut slacks.
  • (20) Because there is plenty of slack in the labour market and investment needs to increase.

Smack


Definition:

  • (n.) A small sailing vessel, commonly rigged as a sloop, used chiefly in the coasting and fishing trade.
  • (v. i.) Taste or flavor, esp. a slight taste or flavor; savor; tincture; as, a smack of bitter in the medicine. Also used figuratively.
  • (v. i.) A small quantity; a taste.
  • (v. i.) A loud kiss; a buss.
  • (v. i.) A quick, sharp noise, as of the lips when suddenly separated, or of a whip.
  • (v. i.) A quick, smart blow; a slap.
  • (adv.) As if with a smack or slap.
  • (n.) To have a smack; to be tinctured with any particular taste.
  • (n.) To have or exhibit indications of the presence of any character or quality.
  • (n.) To kiss with a close compression of the lips, so as to make a sound when they separate; to kiss with a sharp noise; to buss.
  • (n.) To make a noise by the separation of the lips after tasting anything.
  • (v. t.) To kiss with a sharp noise; to buss.
  • (v. t.) To open, as the lips, with an inarticulate sound made by a quick compression and separation of the parts of the mouth; to make a noise with, as the lips, by separating them in the act of kissing or after tasting.
  • (v. t.) To make a sharp noise by striking; to crack; as, to smack a whip.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "I think that we've got to treat our kids well, but I don't think we ought to say there's no place ever for smacks.
  • (2) As a parent himself, he steered a deliberate course on discipline (neither he nor his wife ever smacked their girls) and on external influences - the family did not have a television while the children were young, preferring to read.
  • (3) But Blair's address - "history will forgive us" - was a dubious exercise in group therapy: the cheers smacked of pathetic gratitude, as he piously pardoned the legislators, as well as himself, for the catastrophe of Iraq.
  • (4) It's hard to imagine a more masculine character than Thor, who is based on the god of thunder of Norse myth: he's the strapping, hammer-wielding son of Odin who, more often than not, sports a beard and likes nothing better than smacking frost giants.
  • (5) For every drop shot that was loose, lazy and tossed away a point, there was another that smacked of insouciant brilliance.
  • (6) As a strategy to enhance Miliband’s standing it was surely flawed and may even smack of desperation, suggesting that their man is locked out of larger media opportunities.
  • (7) Given what is now known about the way the case was made for launching an arguably illegal war – this country's biggest foreign policy debacle since Suez – Heywood's refusal to release the conversations smacks of a shabby cover-up at worst, or foot-dragging in a moderately more charitable interpretation.
  • (8) Monsieur Blue open daily midday-2am; Tokyo Eat open daily midday-midnight; Le Smack open midday-midnight Le Musée de la Vie Romantique Cafe Vie Romantique This is one of the most discrete but enchanting Parisian museums, an early 19th-century mansion tucked away down a narrow cul-de-sac in the backstreets of Pigalle.
  • (9) One Labour source claimed the appointment of Green smacked of “Andy Coulson mark II”, a reference to Cameron’s decision to appoint the former News of the World editor as his press spokesman despite the reports of phone hacking at the newspaper.
  • (10) For the right, the word "vulnerable" smacks of victimhood, of ducking blame and not holding individuals accountable for their actions.
  • (11) For everything that matters, as of now, we are smack in the Post-Information Age.
  • (12) Evgeniy Khorishko, at the Russian embassy in Washington, also denied the claims, telling Itar-Tass that "such horror stories smack of cold war times".
  • (13) If we’re going to do this groupthink [a blanket ban] I think it would smack of petulance.” Jones added: “I stand by what Tony Abbott said: it [Q&A] is a lefty lynch mob.
  • (14) The strained efforts of Merkel and Steinmeier to stage a non-confrontational campaign smacked of a conspiracy of silence.
  • (15) Elements of both sides were looking for trouble and police were smack in the middle of that and that’s the sort of thing that is going to be problematic for us.
  • (16) That is some going, even by Fifa standards, though it smacks of incompetence and desperation rather than corruption.
  • (17) But this is a rare moment of good sense in a document that smacks of tactical manoeuvring – of the kind that may cause the corporation strategic harm.
  • (18) That smacks of bravado as the capital is around 1,000 miles away and the rebels number only 1,500 to 2,500 – and the Congolese army is about 150,000-strong.
  • (19) As UFC president Dana White tried to pull the two fighters together, Diaz raised his right hand and McGregor bent his left and smacked it away.
  • (20) Stirling's attempt to refuse the request, calling it "vexatious", smacks of fear.