Dictionary

interregnum en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌɪntəɹˈɹɛɡnə/ (General-American)
• (General-American) audio
• /ˌɪntəɹˈɹɛɡnəm/ (General-American)
• /ɪntəˈɹɛɡnə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ɪntəˈɹɛɡnəm/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin interrēgnum, from inter- (prefix meaning ‘between’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér (“between”)) + rēgnum (“reign; royal power”) (nominalized from the neuter of *rēgnus, from rēx (“king; ruler”, oblique stem rēg-) + -nus (suffix forming adjectives), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to righten; to straighten”)). The plural form interregna is a learned borrowing from Latin interrēgna.

Meanings

1. A period of time between the end of one monarch's reign and the accession of their successor.
   • The Sasanian Interregnum of 628–632
   • It was not till the kings had been shorn of power and the interregnum of sham democracy had set in, leaving no virile force in the state or the world to resist the money power, that the opportunity for a world-wide plutocratic despotism arrived. 1897, Edward Bellamy, Equality, Chapter 15:
2. (broadly, figuratively) A break in continuity; a gap, an intermission.
   • Another element leading to the quick-out-of-the-gate second Trump term took place during the four-year interregnum of President Joe Biden. 2025 January 30, Linda Feldmann, “Understanding the Trump chaos: It’s about wielding executive power”, in The Christian Science Monitor:
   • All I know is that you could, if you wanted to, find the answers to all sorts of difficult questions buried in that terrible war-torn interregnum between the first pubic hair and the first soiled Durex. 1995, Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 17:
   • This was in that strange pause of the storm which is its most remarkable feature in the South—that singular interregnum of the winds, when, after giving repeated notice of their most terrific action, they seem almost to forget their purpose, and for a few moments appear to slumber in their inactivity. 1835, William Gilmore Simms, “chapter XIV”, in The Partisan, Harper, page 179:
   • Is it not Pelham who wonders what becomes of servants when they are not wanted;—whether, like the tones of an instrument, they exist but when called for? About servants we will not decide; but that some such interregnum certainly occurs in female existence on rising from table, no one can doubt who ever noted the sound of the dining and the silence of the drawing-room. 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 224:
   • Between the end of the Fowler régime in 1931 and the advent of Stanier in 1932, there was a short interregnum during which Ernest Lemon was in charge, with Ernest Beames as his principal aide-de-camp. 1946 May and June, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 146:
3. (broadly) A period of time between when a minister or pastor leaves a church and when a new one is installed.
4. (broadly) A period of time between the end of one political leader's term and the start of the term of their successor; a period of time during which normal executive leadership is interrupted or suspended, and a polity is either left without leadership or has only a temporary one.
   • Darker questions still emerge in these dusky final weeks of our interregnum. 2025 January 10, Peter Thiel, “A time for truth and reconciliation”, in Financial Times:
5. (obsolete) A temporary exercise of authority or rule during a period of time when there is no monarch or political leader.

Forms

Deriveds

interregnal

Relateds

regency · interreign

Synonyms

cessation · pause · pause · moratorium · demurral · suspension · hiatus · gap · lapse · interregnum · interruption · caesura · moratorium · break · breather · recess · halt · halting · hiatus · stopping · respite · stoppage · resting · interval · recess

Translations (48)

sh međuvlašće (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · de Pause (break in continuity — see also gap, intermission) · fi epäjatkuvuus (break in continuity — see also gap, intermission) · grc μεσοβασιλεία (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · ca interregne (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · ru междуца́рствие (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · ka მეფეთაშორისი ხანა (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · fr interrègne (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · nn interregnum (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · sh interrègnum (period of time between the end of one political leader’s term and the start of the term of their successor; period of time during which normal executive leadership is interrupted or suspended) · el μεσοβασιλεία (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · gd eadar-riaghladh (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · bg безвластие (period of time between the end of one political leader’s term and the start of the term of their successor; period of time during which normal executive leadership is interrupted or suspended) · fi hallituspula (period of time between the end of one political leader’s term and the start of the term of their successor; period of time during which normal executive leadership is interrupted or suspended) · sh interrègnum (break in continuity — see also gap, intermission) · sh međuvlašće (break in continuity — see also gap, intermission) · nl interregnum (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · id interegnum (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · gd eadar-rìoghachd (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · sh интеррѐгнум (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · pl interregnum (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · sh интеррѐгнум (break in continuity — see also gap, intermission) · es interregno (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · pt interregno (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · de Unterbrechung (break in continuity — see also gap, intermission) · cs interregnum (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · sh interrègnum (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · id interegnum (period of time between the end of one political leader’s term and the start of the term of their successor; period of time during which normal executive leadership is interrupted or suspended) · fi interregnum (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · cmn 改朝换代 (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · fi välitila (break in continuity — see also gap, intermission) · fi interregnum (period of time between when a minister or pastor leaves a church and when a new one is installed) · cmn 改朝换代 (period of time between the end of one political leader’s term and the start of the term of their successor; period of time during which normal executive leadership is interrupted or suspended) · la interrēgnum (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · de Interregnum (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · pl bezkrólewie (period of time between the end of one political leader’s term and the start of the term of their successor; period of time during which normal executive leadership is interrupted or suspended) · id interegnum (break in continuity — see also gap, intermission) · ka უმეფობა (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · pl bezkrólewie (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · ka უმეფობის ხანა (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · sh međuvlašće (period of time between the end of one political leader’s term and the start of the term of their successor; period of time during which normal executive leadership is interrupted or suspended) · nb interregnum (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · ar فَتْرَة (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · pl interregnum (period of time between the end of one political leader’s term and the start of the term of their successor; period of time during which normal executive leadership is interrupted or suspended) · it interregno (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · sh интеррѐгнум (period of time between the end of one political leader’s term and the start of the term of their successor; period of time during which normal executive leadership is interrupted or suspended) · bg междуцарствие (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor) · pl międzykrólewie (period of time between the end of one monarch’s reign and the accession of their successor)