Dictionary

lapse en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (General-American) audio
• (Southern-England) audio
• /læps/ (UK, US)

Etymology

From Middle French laps, from Latin lāpsus, from lābī (“to slip”). Doublet of lapsus.

Meanings

1. A temporary failure; a slip.
   • Now, tho’ this Scripture may be usefully understood and apply’d by us as a Caution to guard against those Lapses and Failings to which our Infirmities daily expose us 1735, John Rogers, Nineteen Sermons on several occasions, London: W. Innys and R. Manby, →OCLC, page 108:
   • lapse in concentration
   • lapse in security
   • lapse of judgment
   • memory lapse
   • It was a regrettable lapse by a person of otherwise exemplary character.
2. A decline or fall in standards.
   • The lapse to indolence is soft and imperceptible, because it is only a mere cessation of activity 1751 September 10, Samuel Johnson, “No. CLV”, in The Rambler, →OCLC:
3. A pause in continuity.
4. An interval of time between events.
   • Still onward winds the dreary way; ⁠I with it; for I long to prove ⁠No lapse of moons can canker Love, Whatever fickle tongues may say. 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXVI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 43:
   • Bacon was content to wait the lapse of long centuries for his expected revenue of fame 1860, Isaac Taylor, Ultimate Civilization and Other Essays, London: Bell and Daldy, →OCLC, page 309:
5. A termination of a right etc., through disuse or neglect.
6. A marked decrease in air temperature with increasing altitude because the ground is warmer than the surrounding air.
7. A common-law rule that if the person to whom property is willed were to die before the testator, then the gift would be ineffective.
8. A fall or apostasy.

Forms

Deriveds

interlapse · lapsation · lapser · anti-lapse · hyperlapse · jitter lapse · time-lapse · lapse rate

Relateds

lapsarian

Synonyms

recess · respite · gap · solecism · caesura · hiatus · lapsus · thinko · suspension · blooper · mess-up · hiatus · gap · fuckup · faux pas · interim · fault · slip · interruption · inaccuracy · error · demurral · clanger · interlapse · halt · blunder · lapse · erroneity · meanwhile · lapse · misstep · moratorium · oopsy · interregnum · misadventure · bloomer · screwup · floater · thinko · boo-boo · howler · gaffe · resting · fluff · boner · cock-up · mistake · flub · between-time · slipup · disadventure · between-time · meantime · aberration · break · break · halting · cessation · stoppage · lapse · blooper · gap · stumble · goof · gaffe · moratorium · stopping · slip-up · pause · wrength · breather

Translations (26)

ru ля́псус (a temporary failure; a slip) · ca lapsus (a temporary failure; a slip) · es lapso (an interval of time between events) · nl tenietgang (a termination of a right, etc, through disuse or neglect.) · el παραγραφή (a termination of a right, etc, through disuse or neglect.) · pt lapso (a temporary failure; a slip) · nl verstrijken (a termination of a right, etc, through disuse or neglect.) · es prescripción (a termination of a right, etc, through disuse or neglect.) · bg пропуск (a temporary failure; a slip) · pl potknięcie (a temporary failure; a slip) · de Entgleisung (a temporary failure; a slip) · pt prescrição (a termination of a right, etc, through disuse or neglect.) · nl fout (a temporary failure; a slip) · pl błąd (a temporary failure; a slip) · nl vergissing (a temporary failure; a slip) · de Verfall (a termination of a right, etc, through disuse or neglect.) · de Verfallen (a termination of a right, etc, through disuse or neglect.) · pl pomyłka (a temporary failure; a slip) · bg малка грешка (a temporary failure; a slip) · de Ausrutscher (a temporary failure; a slip) · fr faute (a temporary failure; a slip) · es desliz (a temporary failure; a slip) · ru оплошность (a temporary failure; a slip) · es lapsus (a temporary failure; a slip) · fr erreur (a temporary failure; a slip) · de Erlöschen (a termination of a right, etc, through disuse or neglect.)

lapse en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (General-American) audio
• (Southern-England) audio
• /læps/ (UK, US)

Etymology

From Middle French laps, from Latin lāpsus, from lābī (“to slip”). Doublet of lapsus.

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To fall away gradually; to subside.
   • This perpetual disposition to shorten our words by retrenching the vowels, is nothing else but a tendency to lapse into the barbarity of those northern nations from whom we are descended 1841, Jonathan Swift, “A letter to the Lord High Treasurer”, in The Works of Jonathan Swift, London: Henry Washbourne, →OCLC, page 288:
   • Homer, however, in his characters of Vulcan and Thersites, in his story of Mars and Venus, in his behaviour of Irus and in other passages has been observed to have lapsed into the Burlesque character, and to have departed from that serious Air which seems essential to the magnificence of an Epic Poem. 1730, Joseph Addison, The Works of the Late Right Honorable Joseph Addison, Esq., volume the third, London: Jacob Tonson, →OCLC:
2. (intransitive) To fall into error or heresy.
   • To lapſe in Fullneſſe / Is ſorer, than to lye for Neede: and Falſhood / Is worſe in Kings, than Beggers. 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi], page 385, column 2:
3. (intransitive) To slip into a bad habit that one is trying to avoid.
4. (intransitive) To become void.
   • The connections at Lewisham were never built, and the powers of the Act lapsed; but the spur at Nunhead was partly constructed. 1946 November and December, “The Why and The Wherefore: Abandoned Embankment at Nunhead, S.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 392:
5. (intransitive) To fall or pass from one proprietor to another, or from the original destination, by the omission, negligence, or failure of somebody, such as a patron or legatee.
   • ...and if the archbishop shall not fill it up within six Months ensuing, it lapses to the King, but according to the Canon Law to the Pope. 1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani, London: Printed for the Author by D. Leach, →OCLC, page 116:

Forms

Deriveds

interlapse · lapsation · lapsible · hyperlapse · lapsingly · unlapsing

Translations (1)

es incidir (to fall into error; to slip into a bad habit)