gap

[gap]

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noun

a break or opening, as in a fence, wall, or military line; breach: We found a gap in the enemy's line of fortifications.

an empty space or interval; interruption in continuity; hiatus: a momentary gap in a siren's wailing; a gap in his memory.

a wide divergence or difference; disparity: the gap between expenses and income; the gap between ideals and actions.

a difference or disparity in attitudes, perceptions, character, or development, or a lack of confidence or understanding, perceived as creating a problem: the technology gap; a communications gap.

a deep, sloping ravine or cleft through a mountain ridge.

Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. a mountain pass: the Cumberland Gap.

Aeronautics. the distance between one supporting surface of an airplane and another above or below it.

verb (used with object), gapped, gap·ping.

to make a gap, opening, or breach in.

verb (used without object), gapped, gap·ping.

to come open or apart; form or show a gap.

Origin of gap

1350–1400; Middle English < Old Norse gap chasm

Related formsgap·less, adjective

Synonyms for gap

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR gap ON THESAURUS.COM

2. pause, interstice, break, interlude, lull.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for gapped

release, free, expand, disclose, jimmy, tap, puncture, burst, vent, pop, unlock, unblock, bare, unfasten, gape, unseal, ventilate, fissure, unwrap, broach

Examples from the Web for gapped

Contemporary Examples of gapped

She plays, she races into school, she flashes her gapped teeth.
Family of Olivia Engel, Lost in Newtown, Remembers Their Daughter
Matthew DeLuca
December 17, 2012

Historical Examples of gapped

He heard a low sob, and it cut through him like a gapped and rusty blade.
The Cottage of Delight
Will N. Harben
He took the axe from her, and ran his thumb along the blunt and gapped edge.
Dixie Hart
Will N. Harben
Other facts show that the "gapped" branches did not behave quite normally.
Makers of British Botany; a collection of biographies by living botanists
Various
The brute slowly opened its huge mouth and disclosed the cruel, gapped teeth.
The Jungle Girl
Gordon Casserly
No; not anything unusual about the front ones, but the hip pockets were gapped open and sagged down.
Warren Commission (10 of 26): Hearings Vol. X (of 15)
The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy

British Dictionary definitions for gapped

gap

noun

a break or opening in a wall, fence, etc

a break in continuity; interruption; hiatusthere is a serious gap in the accounts

a break in a line of hills or mountains affording a route through

mainly US a gorge or ravine

a divergence or difference; disparitythere is a gap between his version of the event and hers; the generation gap

electronics

a break in a magnetic circuit that increases the inductance and saturation point of the circuit
See spark gap

bridge a gap, close a gap, fill a gap or stop a gap to remedy a deficiency

verb gaps, gapping or gapped

(tr) to make a breach or opening in

Derived Formsgapless, adjectivegappy, adjective

Word Origin for gap

C14: from Old Norse gap chasm; related to gapa to gape, Swedish gap, Danish gab open mouth, opening

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for gapped

gap

early 14c. (mid-13c. in place names), from Old Norse gap "chasm," related to gapa "to gape," from PIE *ghai- "to yawn, gape" (see yawn (v.)). Originally "hole in a wall or hedge;" broader sense is 16c. In U.S., common in place names in reference to a break or pass in a long mountain chain (especially one that water flows through). As a verb from 1847.

gapped in Medicine

gap

[găp]

n.

An opening in a structure or surface; a cleft or breach.

An interval or discontinuity in any series or sequence.