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     #738. [Absence of authority] Laxity.—­ N. laxity; laxness, looseness,
slackness; toleration &c. (lenity) 740; freedom &c. 748.
     anarchy, interregnum; relaxation; loosening &c. v.; remission; dead
letter, brutum fulmen[Lat], misrule; license, licentiousness; insubordination &c. (disobedience) 742; lynch law &c. (illegality) 964; nihilism, reign of violence.
     [Deprivation of power] dethronement, deposition, usurpation,
abdication. 
     V. be -lax &c. adj.; laisser faire[Fr], laisser aller[Fr]; hold a
loose rein; give the reins to, give rope enough, give a loose to; tolerate; relax; misrule.
     go beyond the length of one’s tether; have one’s swing, have one’s
fling; act without instructions, act without authority, act outside of one’s authority; act on one’s own responsibility, usurp authority.
     dethrone, depose; abdicate. 
     Adj. lax, loose; slack; remiss &c. (careless) 460; weak.
     relaxed; licensed; reinless[obs3], unbridled; anarchical; unauthorized
&c. (unwarranted) 925; adespotic[obs3].

     #739.  Severity.—­ N. severity; strictness, harshness &c. adj.; rigor,
stringency, austerity; inclemency &c. (pitilessness) 914a; arrogance &c. 885; precisianism[obs3].
     arbitrary power; absolutism, despotism; dictatorship, autocracy,
tyranny, domineering, oppression; assumption, usurpation; inquisition, reign of terror, martial law; iron heel, iron rule, iron hand, iron sway; tight grasp; brute force, brute strength; coercion &c. 744; strong hand, tight hand.
     hard lines, hard measure; tender mercies [ironical]; sharp practice;
pipe-clay, officialism.
     tyrant, disciplinarian, precisian[obs3], martinet, stickler,
bashaw[obs3], despot, hard master, Draco, oppressor, inquisitor, extortioner, harpy, vulture; accipitres[obs3], birds of prey, raptorials[obs3], raptors[obs3]. 
     V. be -severe &c. adj.
     assume, usurp, arrogate, take liberties; domineer, bully &c. 885;
tyrannize, inflict, wreak, stretch a point, put on the screw; be hard upon; bear a heavy hand on, lay a heavy hand on; be down upon, come down upon; ill treat; deal hardly with, deal hard measure to; rule with a rod of iron, chastise with scorpions; dye with blood; oppress, override; trample under foot; tread under foot, tread upon, trample upon, tread down upon, trample down upon; crush under an iron heel, ride roughshod over; rivet the yoke; hold a tight hand, keep a tight hand; force down the throat; coerce &c. 744; give no quarter &c. (pitiless) 914a. 
     Adj. severe; strict, hard, harsh, dour, rigid, stiff, stern, rigorous,
uncompromising, exacting, exigent, exigeant[obs3], inexorable, inflexible, obdurate, austere, hard-headed, hard-nosed, hard-shell [U.S.], relentless, Spartan, Draconian, stringent, strait-laced, searching, unsparing, iron-handed, peremptory, absolute, positive, arbitrary, imperative; coercive &c. 744; tyrannical, extortionate,