What's the difference between slacken and taut?

Slacken


Definition:

  • (a.) To become slack; to be made less tense, firm, or rigid; to decrease in tension; as, a wet cord slackens in dry weather.
  • (a.) To be remiss or backward; to be negligent.
  • (a.) To lose cohesion or solidity by a chemical combination with water; to slake; as, lime slacks.
  • (a.) To abate; to become less violent.
  • (a.) To lose rapidity; to become more slow; as, a current of water slackens.
  • (a.) To languish; to fail; to flag.
  • (a.) To end; to cease; to desist; to slake.
  • (v. t.) To render slack; to make less tense or firm; as, to slack a rope; to slacken a bandage.
  • (v. t.) To neglect; to be remiss in.
  • (v. t.) To deprive of cohesion by combining chemically with water; to slake; as, to slack lime.
  • (v. t.) To cause to become less eager; to repress; to make slow or less rapid; to retard; as, to slacken pursuit; to slacken industry.
  • (v. t.) To cause to become less intense; to mitigate; to abate; to ease.
  • (n.) A spongy, semivitrifled substance which miners or smelters mix with the ores of metals to prevent their fusion.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Torque pulses (of 10 or 100 msec) injected randomly to load or unload the movements stretched or slackened the appropiate prime movers: biceps or triceps.
  • (2) Although the rate of growth has slackened somewhat during recent years, the private pension movement is now a major contributor to the income maintenance needs of the American worker during retirement.
  • (3) While the slackening of the woof and the dimension of the meshes are minimal at both the beginning and end of the cycle, they reach a maximum on forteenth day.
  • (4) Increasing doses led to a negative inotropic effect with slackened relaxation and loss of its load sensitivity (up to 390 mumol l-1 for sulmazole; up to 350 mumol-1 for theophylline).
  • (5) Our findings suggest a mechanism eventually leading to slackening of the cervical spine ligamentous apparatus and atlantoaxial subluxation in RA.
  • (6) The result is diminished uterine volume and slackening of the myometrium.
  • (7) This also raises the question to what extent these fears become manifest because of a slackening of the defence mechanisms.
  • (8) The collagen fibres in this case stretch out and the skin tension slackens.
  • (9) The potential for slackened physician-patient relationships, however, could jeopardize that quality.
  • (10) One is the mobilization of a global effort to develop and test technologies, where the available technologies are not satisfactory to meet the needs and where the research is slackening.
  • (11) Blepharochalasis implies the symptom or general term (Kettesy) applied to the slackening and thinning out of the upper lid.
  • (12) After strong growth in the first six months of the year, the pace of growth in manufacturing has also slackened as a result of weaker demand from key markets including Europe and China.” Taken as a whole the UK’s economy is now 3.4% above its pre-crisis peak in the first quarter of 2008.
  • (13) 10 (11 p.cent) died within one month of surgery, but slackening of the sutures was an attributable cause in none of these cases.
  • (14) So over the coming months, far from slackening, you'll see the rate of change and reform at the BBC go faster and deeper.
  • (15) The Tumble is hard but it slackens off after a couple of kilometres so it’s hard to pull out a lot of time.
  • (16) Vmax was also determined by a procedure in which the cell length was slackened and the time of unloaded shortening was recorded (slack test).
  • (17) The sales pattern of the aerosols altered, showing a slackening of the rate of increase of sales in 1966 and 1967.
  • (18) Its growth rate and cellular structure were observed over the subsequent 19 months, the former remaining constant for the first 14 months, then slackening markedly during the final 4 months.
  • (19) On debt and taxation, rich and poor countries are worlds apart | Tove Maria Ryding Read more “Already, several countries have turned to multilateral lending institutions, such as the IMF and the World Bank, in order to obtain financial assistance: Angola, Azerbaijan, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe have already asked for bailouts or are in talks to do so.” The trade and development report said that against a backdrop of falling commodity prices and slackening growth in the developed world, borrowing costs for poor countries had been “driven up very quickly, turning what seemed reasonable debt burdens under favourable conditions into largely unsustainable debt.
  • (20) In another welcome sign of rebalancing, exports to non-EU countries were up by 3.5% ( full details here ) Photograph: ISTAT 9.25am BST Draghi is also warning that eurozone governments must not slacken off the pace of reform - a familiar refrain for the ECB chief: Thanks to their consolidation efforts so far, the primary fiscal deficit for the euro area has fallen from 3.5% of GDP in 2009 to around 0.5% in 2012.

Taut


Definition:

  • (a.) Tight; stretched; not slack; -- said esp. of a rope that is tightly strained.
  • (a.) Snug; close; firm; secure.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The first symptom is usually Raynaud's phenomenon, followed by skin changes; at the beginning the skin is swollen and oedematous, and then becomes thick, taut, shiny and atrophic.
  • (2) The first mechanism is based on the extraordinary obliquity of the constantly taut PCL guiding bundle, which produces torque in the final extension stage.
  • (3) Arthroscopic evaluations revealed that the allografts were elaborately remodeled, viable, and taut.
  • (4) The zonular traction maintained the posterior capsule taut so that the vitreous pressure was distributed equally over the entire surface of the capsular diaphragm.
  • (5) An age-related decline of performance occurred in most of the sensory-motor tasks; locomotor activity was reduced in a novel environment and in a runwheel, and the ability to prevent falling was reduced in tests on a taut wire, rotorod, inclined screen, and several types of elevated bridges.
  • (6) Cibacron Blue F3GA dye has been used to probe subtle conformational changes in protein structure associated with the conversion of Escherichia coli glutamine synthetase (GS) between relaxed, taut, oxidized, and dissociated forms.
  • (7) The taut transverse metatarsal ligament appears to play a critical role compressing the interdigital nerve but the exact pathomechanics producing the neuroma and the role of the intermetatarsal bursa remain unclear.
  • (8) This vertical retraction syndrome mimics Duane's syndrome and benefits from recession of the taut vertical recti.
  • (9) "The thread is pulled very taut at the moment," he says.
  • (10) Just anterior to the globular region, flattened cells are present on the surface with many taut cellular processes.
  • (11) ACL grafts did not show any biodegradation with time but maintained a thick and viable appearance, although 3 of the taut ones showed partial necrosis in the anterolateral part.
  • (12) Because the compression device was held in a static position, the only variable was the tautness of the nerve root across the tip of the device.
  • (13) In seven experiments, subjects perceived the distances from the hand of occluded metal disks attached to a taut nylon strand.
  • (14) The membranes surrounded the tack heads and extended in taut bands to form a tractional detachment of the pars plana.
  • (15) Using a cryoprobe as a "handle" can greatly facilitate resection by providing a taut surface for transection and improving visualization of ductal and vascular structures.
  • (16) Each of the cruciate ligaments contains functionally different fiber groups; one fiber bundle is always taut; numerous others are taut in intermediate or extreme positions.
  • (17) The course of the healing process was rated by 4 subjective symptoms (itching, burning, skin tautness and pain) and by the following objective criteria: number of days in the vesicular stage and duration of complete healing, abortive lesions and new lesions.
  • (18) To rule out the possibility that fusion was induced by a mechanical stress imparted by the internal pressure of a taut granule, we performed control experiments using cells in which vesicles were shrunken with hyperosmotic solutions.
  • (19) A 38-year-old HIV-seropositive homosexual man presented with fever, chills, malaise, and a cutaneous eruption consisting of indurated, shiny, erythematous plaques that were confluent on the face and scalp leading to alopecia and extreme tautness of the skin.
  • (20) Muscle spasm, tension, spasticity, taut bands, scar tissues, or fibrositic nodules can be documented.