lapse
Americannoun
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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.
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a slip or error, often of a trivial sort; failure.
a lapse of memory.
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an interval or passage of time; elapsed period.
a lapse of ten minutes before the program resumed.
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a moral fall, as from rectitude or virtue.
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a fall or decline to a lower grade, condition, or degree; descent; regression.
a lapse into savagery.
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the act of falling, slipping, sliding, etc., slowly or by degrees.
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a falling into disuse.
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Insurance. discontinuance of coverage resulting from nonpayment of a premium; termination of a policy.
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Law. the termination of a right or privilege through neglect to exercise it or through failure of some contingency.
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Meteorology. lapse rate.
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Archaic. a gentle, downward flow, as of water.
verb (used without object)
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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.
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to come to an end; stop.
We let our subscription to that magazine lapse.
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to fall, slip, or sink; subside.
to lapse into silence.
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to fall into disuse.
The custom lapsed after a period of time.
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to deviate or abandon principles, beliefs, etc..
to lapse into heresy.
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to fall spiritually, as an apostate.
to lapse from grace.
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to pass away, as time; elapse.
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Law. to become void, as a legacy to someone who dies before the testator.
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to cease being in force; terminate.
Your insurance policy will lapse after 30 days.
noun
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a drop in standard of an isolated or temporary nature
a lapse of justice
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a break in occurrence, usage, etc
a lapse of five weeks between letters
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a gradual decline or a drop to a lower degree, condition, or state
a lapse from high office
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a moral fall
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law the termination of some right, interest, or privilege, as by neglecting to exercise it or through failure of some contingency
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insurance the termination of coverage following a failure to pay the premiums
verb
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to drop in standard or fail to maintain a norm
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to decline gradually or fall in status, condition, etc
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to be discontinued, esp through negligence or other failure
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(usually foll by into) to drift or slide (into a condition)
to lapse into sleep
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(often foll by from) to turn away (from beliefs or norms)
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law (of a devise or bequest) to become void, as on the beneficiary's predeceasing the testator
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(of time) to slip away
Other Word Forms
- lapsable adjective
- lapsed adjective
- lapser noun
- unlapsing adjective
Etymology
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
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.
"We are wondering why this security lapse was allowed to happen, why the authorities could not take action," Sanusi said.
From BBC
The lapse of New Start, he said, disrupted "a legacy of more than five decades of bilateral nuclear arms control."
From BBC
They added: "I don't see how the PM recovers from the utter lapse in judgment in appointing Mandelson."
From BBC
The Labor Department, which houses the BLS, was among the agencies that had their funding lapse during the partial government shutdown that started on Saturday.
From Barron's
The statistics system had barely caught up with more extensive delays caused by last fall’s government shutdown when another funding lapse this week pushed back the publication of January data.
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.
