lapse

[ laps ]

/ læps /

noun

an accidental or temporary decline or deviation from an expected or accepted condition or state; a temporary falling or slipping from a previous standard: a lapse of justice.

a slip or error, often of a trivial sort; failure: a lapse of memory.

an interval or passage of time; elapsed period: a lapse of ten minutes before the program resumed.

a moral fall, as from rectitude or virtue.

a fall or decline to a lower grade, condition, or degree; descent; regression: a lapse into savagery.

the act of falling, slipping, sliding, etc., slowly or by degrees.

a falling into disuse.

Insurance. discontinuance of coverage resulting from nonpayment of a premium; termination of a policy.

Law. the termination of a right or privilege through neglect to exercise it or through failure of some contingency.

Meteorology. lapse rate.

Archaic. a gentle, downward flow, as of water.

verb (used without object), lapsed, laps·ing.

to fall or deviate from a previous standard; fail to maintain a normative level: Toward the end of the book the author lapsed into bad prose.

to come to an end; stop: We let our subscription to that magazine lapse.

to fall, slip, or sink; subside: to lapse into silence.

to fall into disuse: The custom lapsed after a period of time.

to deviate or abandon principles, beliefs, etc.: to lapse into heresy.

to fall spiritually, as an apostate: to lapse from grace.

to pass away, as time; elapse.

Law. to become void, as a legacy to someone who dies before the testator.

to cease being in force; terminate: Your insurance policy will lapse after 30 days.

Origin of lapse

1520–30; < Latin lāpsus an error, slipping, failing, equivalent to lāb(ī) to slide, slip, fall, make a mistake + -sus, for -tus suffix of v. action

OTHER WORDS FROM lapse

laps·er, noun un·laps·ing, adjective

Words nearby lapse

lappet weaving, lappish, lapsable, lapsang, lapsang souchong, lapse, lapse rate, lapsed, lapsible, lapstrake, lapsus

Example sentences from the Web for lapse

That lapse was partly mitigated by the rise of blogging, which encouraged user-generated content.

You Can Look It Up: The Wikipedia Story |Walter Isaacson |October 19, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Today no one in either party would accept such a benign explanation for a lapse in security, nor should they.

My Benghazi Scandal |Eleanor Clift |May 15, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Cezanne is full of details, too, of course, but we know that they will endure a lapse in our attention.

Warhol Gives Edie Sedgwick the Evil Eye |Blake Gopnik |January 8, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
They can buy whatever insurance they need to get the gun, and then let it lapse.

Should People Be Forced to Buy Liability Insurance for their Guns? |Megan McArdle |December 28, 2012 |DAILY BEAST

The president has said he would allow those tax cuts to lapse, at least for high income levels.

4 Predictions For A Second Obama Term |David Frum |August 27, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
Lora knew that his spirit would have to become the Watcher of Graves till such time as another soul should lapse into the silence.

Pharais and The Mountain Lovers |Fiona Macleod
In our country, especially in the Middle West, everybody watches everybody else for the least lapse in the democratic spirit.

Tramping on Life |Harry Kemp
That lapse of certainty marked a difference in their relations.

The Creators |May Sinclair
This is all true of Christianity; the lapse of years, instead of injuring it, has only brought out its power.

History of Rationalism Embracing a Survey of the Present State of Protestant Theology |John F. Hurst
After the lapse of half an hour, he heard the carriage roll away with his wife and niece.

File No. 113 |Emile Gaboriau

British Dictionary definitions for lapse

lapse

/ (læps) /

noun

a drop in standard of an isolated or temporary nature a lapse of justice

a break in occurrence, usage, etc a lapse of five weeks between letters

a gradual decline or a drop to a lower degree, condition, or state a lapse from high office

a moral fall

law the termination of some right, interest, or privilege, as by neglecting to exercise it or through failure of some contingency

insurance the termination of coverage following a failure to pay the premiums

verb (intr)

to drop in standard or fail to maintain a norm

to decline gradually or fall in status, condition, etc

to be discontinued, esp through negligence or other failure

(usually foll by into) to drift or slide (into a condition) to lapse into sleep

(often foll by from) to turn away (from beliefs or norms)

law (of a devise or bequest) to become void, as on the beneficiary's predeceasing the testator

(of time) to slip away

Derived forms of lapse

lapsable or lapsible, adjective lapsed, adjective lapser, noun

Word Origin for lapse

C15: from Latin lāpsus error, from lābī to glide

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

lapse

noun

verb (used without object), lapsed, laps·ing.

Origin of lapse

OTHER WORDS FROM lapse

Words nearby lapse

Example sentences from the Web for lapse

British Dictionary definitions for lapse

noun

verb (intr)

Derived forms of lapse

Word Origin for lapse

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

lapse

noun

verb (used without object), lapsed, laps·ing.

Origin of lapse

OTHER WORDS FROM lapse

Words nearby lapse

Words related to lapse

Example sentences from the Web for lapse

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []) .push({}); British Dictionary definitions for lapse

noun

verb (intr)

Derived forms of lapse

Word Origin for lapse

British Dictionary definitions for lapse