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lapsus

American  
[lap-suhs, lahp-soos] / ˈlæp səs, ˈlɑp sʊs /

noun

  1. a slip or lapse.


lapsus British  
/ ˈlæpsəs /

noun

  1. formal a lapse or error

"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

Etymology

Origin of lapsus

1660–70; < Latin lāpsus; see lapse

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:

Reminded that technically the war was over for Russia, Kisselev confessed a "lapsus linguae."

From Time Magazine Archive

“Ubi lapsus quid feci,” said the Dominie; “I spoke of thy musical tongue; and, furthermore, I spoke alle-gori-cal-ly.”

From Jacob Faithful by Frederick Marryat

The artist is a sort of impassioned proof-reader, blue-pencilling the lapsus calami of God.

From Damn! A Book of Calumny by H. L. (Henry Louis) Mencken

This should be Fort Clark, not Fort Leavenworth—an evident lapsus calami.

From Travels in the Interior of North America, Part I, (Being Chapters I-XV of the London Edition, 1843) Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, Volume XXII by Alexander Philipp Maximilian

He could hardly have known of the two G's, from the sound; but the omission of the cross-bar from the one that was de rigueur was certainly a lapsus calami, and a serious one.

From When Ghost Meets Ghost by William Frend De Morgan

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