elapse
Americanverb (used without object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
elapsesimple
-
elapsessimple
-
have elapsedperfect
-
has elapsedperfect
-
am elapsingprogressive
-
are elapsingprogressive
-
is elapsingprogressive
-
have been elapsingperfect progressive
-
has been elapsingperfect progressive
Past
-
elapsedsimple
-
had elapsedperfect
-
was elapsingprogressive
-
were elapsingprogressive
-
had been elapsingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of elapse
1635–45; < Latin ēlapsus (past participle of ēlābī to slip away), equivalent to e- e- 1 + lab- slip + -sus for -tus past participle suffix
Explanation
When time passes by, you say it elapses. Four years elapse while you are in high school. Nine months elapse while you are in the womb. If two weeks have elapsed between your tennis lessons, there has been a two-week lapse between sessions. The word elapse comes from the Latin word elabi which means "to slip away." Time is one of those things that really does tend to slip away, unless you're sitting through a lecture on the nature of time. Then, it might feel like years elapse when really it is just a few minutes.
Vocabulary lists containing elapse
A Doll's House
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"The Math Instinct," Vocabulary from the math essay
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Beowulf: A New Telling
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
You may even die before those nearly two decades elapse, so you would have lost out on all that extra loot.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 11, 2026
But the repercussions will reverberate for some time: at least 12 months must elapse from the last case to regain the important fever-free status.
From Barron's ● Dec. 2, 2025
"It therefore seems likely that many years will elapse before any such Crispr-based therapy becomes routine - even assuming that it can be shown to be effective."
From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2024
The potholes and footprints created in the process “tend to stay for a long time,” she said, given that years may elapse before Lake Manly returns to the desert.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2024
Whoever spotted Asmodeus was to report, after letting one minute elapse, to Matthias, who was positioned roughly at the center of the line.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
As the pair do some sightseeing, share meals and otherwise fill their days with prosaic acts, more than 30 minutes of screen time elapses in what amounts to stage-setting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 19, 2026
Disciplinary complaints against a lawyer actually have no statute of limitations, although the more time that elapses, the more difficult it will be to prove/investigate.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 2, 2026
Isaacs will not automatically be released after his 21-year minimum jail term elapses.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2025
They want the debate to occur inside a TV studio, with microphones that automatically cut off when a speaker’s time limit elapses.
From New York Times ● May 15, 2024
Thus, if you do practice for a person, and a year elapses and you again attend him, you cannot combine the two as one account, and enforce collection by law.
From How to Collect a Doctor Bill by Davis, Frank P.
If two clubs transfer players in the same window after the 45 days have elapsed they could still be considered as swaps if there is anything in the contracts to connect them.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
A few seconds elapsed after the cars passed out of frame.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
By the time the agents shoved me into that unmarked SUV, three minutes and 30 seconds had elapsed.
From Slate ● Jan. 23, 2026
Marquee values for the E-Ray include an official 0-60 mph acceleration in 2.5 seconds and a ¼-mile elapsed time of 10.5 seconds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
Indeed, one could hardly believe two whole hours had elapsed when Miss Kenton looked up at the clock on the mantelshelf and said she would have to be returning home.
From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
The back-to-back turnovers dropped the Bengals win probability from 83.8% to 8.2% with only seconds of game time elapsing, according to the NFL’s modeling.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 8, 2025
The timeframe for issuing warrants can vary, with weeks and even months sometimes elapsing between the point at which the ICC prosecutor requests it, and judges grant it.
From BBC ● May 2, 2024
With years often elapsing between the incident and inquest, Alexander said inquests often open wounds and “re-traumatize” the families.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 15, 2023
“That time elapsing, in itself, really showed us our own shame.”
From New York Times ● Dec. 15, 2021
Once again, each began secreting a substance radically different from the other's, a substance growing more individual with each elapsing century.
From Musical Portraits Interpretations of Twenty Modern Composers by Rosenfeld, Paul
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
