Search Result for "loosening": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (2)

1. an occurrence of control or strength weakening;
- Example: "the relaxation of requirements"
- Example: "the loosening of his grip"
- Example: "the slackening of the wind"
[syn: relaxation, loosening, slackening]

2. the act of making something less tight;
[syn: loosening, laxation]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Loosen \Loos"en\ (l[=oo]s"'n), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Loosened (l[=oo]s"'nd); p. pr. & vb. n. Loosening.] [See Loose, v. t.] 1. To make loose; to free from tightness, tension, firmness, or fixedness; to make less dense or compact; as, to loosen a string, or a knot; to loosen a rock in the earth. [1913 Webster] After a year's rooting, then shaking doth the tree good by loosening of the earth. --Bacon. [1913 Webster] 2. To free from restraint; to set at liberty.. [1913 Webster] It loosens his hands, and assists his understanding. --Dryden. [1913 Webster] 3. To remove costiveness from; to facilitate or increase the alvine discharges of. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

loosening n 1: an occurrence of control or strength weakening; "the relaxation of requirements"; "the loosening of his grip"; "the slackening of the wind" [syn: relaxation, loosening, slackening] 2: the act of making something less tight [syn: loosening, laxation] [ant: tightening]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

62 Moby Thesaurus words for "loosening": abatement, allayment, alleviation, assuagement, blunting, calming, carelessness, damping, deadening, demulcent, demulsion, diminution, dulcification, dulling, easiness, easing, easygoingness, emollient, falling-off, hushing, impotence, imprecision, indifference, laxity, laxness, leniency, lessening, letdown, letup, lightening, looseness, lulling, mitigation, modulation, mollification, mollifying, negligence, overindulgence, overpermissiveness, pacification, palliation, permissiveness, quietening, quieting, reduction, relaxation, relaxedness, relaxing, remission, remissness, slackening, slackness, sloppiness, softening, softness, soothing, subduement, subduing, tempering, tranquilization, unrestraint, weakness