hiatus
[hahy-ey-tuhs]
- a break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action, etc.
- a missing part; gap or lacuna: Scholars attempted to account for the hiatus in the medieval manuscript.
- any gap or opening.
- Grammar, Prosody. the coming together, with or without break or slight pause, and without contraction, of two vowels in successive words or syllables, as in see easily.
- Anatomy. a natural fissure, cleft, or foramen in a bone or other structure.
Show More
Origin of hiatus
1555–65; < Latin hiātus opening, gap, equivalent to hiā(re) to gape, open + -tus suffix of v. action
Synonyms for hiatus
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
hiatus
- (esp in manuscripts) a break or gap where something is missing
- a break or interruption in continuity
- a break between adjacent vowels in the pronunciation of a word
- anatomy a natural opening or aperture; foramen
- anatomy a less common word for vulva
Show More
Word Origin for hiatus
C16: from Latin: gap, cleft, aperture, from hiāre to gape, yawn
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 hiatal
hiatus
1560s, "break or opening in a material object," from Latin hiatus "opening, aperture, rupture, gap," from past participle stem of hiare "to gape, stand open" (see yawn (v.)). Sense of "gap or interruption in events, etc." is first recorded 1610s.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
hiatus
(hī-ā′təs)- An aperture or fissure in an organ or a body part.
- A foramen.
Show More
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.