Dictionary

lacuna en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• (US) audio
• /ləˈk(j)uː.nə/

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin lacūna (“a ditch, pit; a hollow, cavity; a gap, defect”). Doublet of lacune and lagoon.

Meanings

1. A small opening; a small pit or depression, especially in bone.
2. (qualifier:microscopy) A small opening; a small pit or depression, especially in bone. ▸ A space visible between cells, allowing free passage of light.
3. A small blank space; a gap or vacancy; a hiatus.
   • "Our young friend makes up for many obvious mental lacunæ by some measure of primitive common sense," remarked Challenger. 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
4. A small blank space; a gap or vacancy; a hiatus. ▸ An absent part, especially in a book or other piece of writing, often referring to an ancient manuscript or similar.
   • Long lacunae in this inscription make interpretation difficult.
5. (figuratively) A small blank space; a gap or vacancy; a hiatus. ▸ Any gap, break, hole, or lack in a set of things; something missing.
   • If the researcher cannot adequately hear a specific conversation due to its low volume or other acoustic interference, then this data point can be passed over with the understanding that such lacunae will be randomly distributed over the data collecting period. 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, volume 41, number 7, →DOI, page 577:
   • For Beatrice Nutter, there will always be conspicuous lacunae in our mutual understanding, but after almost 30 years here, the anomalies now delight rather than confound her. 2008 March 23, Elizabeth Day, “The great French love affair with la vie anglaise”, in The Observer, →ISSN:
6. A small blank space; a gap or vacancy; a hiatus. ▸ A language gap, which occurs when there is no direct translation in the target language for a lexical term found in the source language.

Forms

Coordinates

vallecula · fissure · sulcus · fossa · cavity · sulcus · vallecula · fovea · fovea · fossa · fissure · cleft · cavity · cleft

Deriveds

lacunary · lacunal · lacunar · lacunate · lacunose

Synonyms

gap · hiatus · anisomorphism

Translations (34)

nl lacune (absent part in a book) · cmn 缺文 (absent part in a book) · el κενό (absent part in a book) · la lacūna ((anatomy) opening, pit, depression) · el κενό (language gap) · sv lakun (absent part in a book) · bg пропуск (absent part in a book) · fi aukko ((anatomy) opening, pit, depression) · fi lakuuni (space between cells) · de lexikalische Lücke (language gap) · nn lakune (absent part in a book) · sv lexikal lucka (language gap) · oc lacuna lexicala (language gap) · id lakuna (absent part in a book) · nl taalhiaat (language gap) · la lacūna (absent part in a book) · ar جَوْبَة ((anatomy) opening, pit, depression) · nb lakune (absent part in a book) · el χάσμα (absent part in a book) · es vacío léxico (language gap) · id lakuna ((anatomy) opening, pit, depression) · nb lakune ((anatomy) opening, pit, depression) · io lakuno ((anatomy) opening, pit, depression) · cs propust ((anatomy) opening, pit, depression) · ar جَوْبَة (space between cells) · nn lakune ((anatomy) opening, pit, depression) · fi leksikaalinen aukko (language gap) · es laguna léxica (language gap) · cmn 腔隙 ((anatomy) opening, pit, depression) · de Spalt ((anatomy) opening, pit, depression) · cmn 詞彙空缺 /词汇空缺 (language gap) · kmr kelên ((anatomy) opening, pit, depression) · fi aukko (absent part in a book) · cmn 腔隙 (space between cells)