lapse
noun
an accidental or temporary decline or deviation from an expected or accepted condition or state; a temporary falling or slipping from a previous standard.
were lapsing
-
past progressiveof lapse.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
Kalyn Lee, who is black, and Ben Ramos, who second generation Mexican American, were lapsing their childhood faiths.
From Time ● Sep. 26, 2014
Moreover, during the same time period, patents on many of the major new antidepressants were lapsing, starting with Prozac in 2001.
From Time ● Aug. 16, 2012
The brief, closing sentence was spoken as if she were lapsing into reverie.
From The Allen House by T. S. (Timothy Shay) Arthur
Ursula, left alone, felt as if everything were lapsing out.
From Women in Love by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
Meantime, the farms were less carefully tended than of old: here and there they were lapsing into their natural wildness: some villas also were partly fallen into ruin.
From Marius the Epicurean — Volume 1 by Walter Pater
