relaxation

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin relaxatio, relaxationis; equivalent to relax +‎ -ation.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɹilækˈseɪʃən/, /ˌɹɪlækˈseɪʃən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

relaxation (countable and uncountable, plural relaxations)

1. The act of relaxing or the state of being relaxed; the opposite of stress or tension; the aim of recreation and leisure activities.
2. A diminution of tone, tension, or firmness; specifically in pathology: a looseness; a diminution of the natural and healthy tone of parts.

   relaxation of the soft palate

3. Remission or abatement of rigor.
4. Remission of attention or application.
   • 1989 December 3, Michael De Mayo, “A New Word In AIDS Prevention: Relapse”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 21, page 16:

     It may seem as though the safer sex message gets overplayed, stressed too much; it may have even become tired. Nonetheless, it has become evident that to abandon that message now would create complacency among people at risk for HIV infection. The end result would be a relaxation of life-saving techniques. We would be faced with a new generation of individuals testing antibody positive.

   relaxation of efforts

5. Unbending; recreation; a state or occupation intended to give mental or bodily relief after effort.
6. (physics) The transition of a nucleus, atom or molecule from a higher energy level to a lower one; the opposite of excitation
7. (music) The release following musical tension.

Derived terms

• dielectric relaxation
• isovolumic relaxation time
• letter of relaxation
• relaxation time
• violent relaxation

 

Related terms

• relax
• relaxable
• relaxant
• relaxate
• relaxative

Translations

act of relaxing or the state of being relaxed

• Arabic: اِسْتِرْخَاءْ m (istirḵāʔ)

  Hijazi Arabic: رَوَقان m (rawagān)

• Armenian: թուլացում (hy) (tʻulacʻum)
• Belarusian: расслабле́нне n (rasslabljénnje), рэлакса́цыя f (relaksácyja), рэлякса́цыя f (reljaksácyja)
• Bengali: আরাম (bn) (aram)
• Bulgarian: разхла́бване n (razhlábvane), отпу́скане (bg) n (otpúskane), релакса́ция f (relaksácija)
• Catalan: relaxació (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鬆弛／松弛 (zh) (sōngchí)

• Czech: uvolnění (cs) n
• French: relaxation (fr), détente (fr)
• Galician: relaxación (gl) f, relaxamento (gl) m, esparexemento (gl) m
• German: Entspannung (de) f
• Greek: χαλάρωση (el) f (chalárosi), χαλάρωμα (el) n (chalároma)

  Ancient: ἄνεσις f (ánesis), ῥᾳθυμία f (rhāithumía), χάλασμα m (khálasma)

• Italian: rilassamento (it) m
• Japanese: 寛ぎ (くつろぎ, kutsurogi), 息抜き (ja) (いきぬき, ikinuki), リラックス (ja) (rirakkusu), 休息 (ja) (きゅうそく, kyūsoku)
• Korean: 휴식(休息) (ko) (hyusik), 릴랙스 (rillaekseu)
• Latin: relaxātiō f
• Macedonian: опу́штање n (opúštanje), релакса́ција f (relaksácija)
• Maori: pāroretanga
• Polish: relaks (pl) m, relaksacja f
• Portuguese: descontração (pt) f
• Romanian: relaxare (ro) f, repaus (ro) n
• Russian: расслабле́ние (ru) n (rasslablénije), релакса́ция (ru) f (relaksácija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: опуштање n, релакса́ција f

  Roman: opuštanje n, relaksácija (sh) f

• Slovak: uvoľnenie n
• Slovene: sprostitev f
• Spanish: relajación (es) f, relax (es) m
• Swedish: avspänning (sv) c
• Tagalog: pahingalay, hingalay, pagpapahingalay
• Ukrainian: розсла́блення n (rozsláblennja), релакса́ція f (relaksácija)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} relaxation (fr) f (1,5)
• Hebrew: הַרְפָּיָה f (harpáya) (2)

References

• “relaxation”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

relaxation f (plural relaxations)

1. relaxation

Further reading

• “relaxation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.