slacken

Listeners might feel their pulse slacken as they settle into the music’s soothing triple meter, a recurring cycle of one-two-threes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026

You absolutely must allow your lower face to slacken naturally, which may be right around the moment Kardashian parts her artificially plumped lips to make a heroic attempt at acting.

From Salon ● Nov. 6, 2025

The report cautioned that it is too early to determine what caused the rate to slacken.

From BBC ● Dec. 11, 2024

And, with the tight job market starting to slacken, some predict 2024 will be the year employers finally clamp down.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 4, 2024

They had been going for a long while — Pippin had tried to keep count of the ‘ent-strides’ but had failed, getting lost at about three thousand — when Treebeard began to slacken his pace.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

The problem is that the birth-death model tends to exaggerate job creation at turning points in the economy — when growth accelerates or when it slackens off.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 12, 2025

As the wings begin to generate lift, the rotors’ pace slackens.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025

Just when the pace slackens, Crewe deftly flicks the reins, and “The New Life” jolts forward, as with the scandal of Oscar Wilde’s trial.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 29, 2022

And while the agonizing stillness of Brünnhilde and especially Wotan in their long final scene is effective in theory, Rose and Jones do not quite sell his endless impassivity, and the tension sometimes slackens.

From New York Times ● Nov. 21, 2021

Her grip on her purse slackens and her neck makes a nice curve.

From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison

One of the problems defense stocks have faced was a rotation into other sectors as fighting in the Middle East slackened.

From Barron's ● Apr. 24, 2026

“Consumers and businesses endured another difficult quarter as higher taxes and heightened uncertainty triggered a renewed reluctance to spend, invest and trade, while government spending slackened unexpectedly,” said Suren Thiru, economics director at the ICAEW.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2025

It was only by goal number 10 that the pace slackened.

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2024

Having a strong sense of smell can be metabolically costly, Bird notes, so it’s possible that domestication and reliance on humans for food slackened the evolutionary pressure to maintain such a sharp olfactory edge.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 26, 2024

He slackened his speed a little, seeking new foes, and his knights came about him, and Dernhelm was with them.

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien

The disconnect between slackening activity and the increasing yield has mystified even oil chieftains.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 17, 2026

The central bank is trying to shore up a slackening U.S. jobs market while ensuring inflation doesn’t get out of hand again.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2025

Retail sales also fell last month, while firms from Walmart to Delta Air Lines have warned of slackening demand.

From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2025

Last year — amid a stagnating economy and slackening labor market — it reached record highs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2024

The car swung off the road at Group Headquarters with a squeal of tires, slackening speed only slightly, and continued around past the parking lot to the back of the building.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller