Lapse

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /læps/
• Rhymes: -æps

Origin

From Middle French laps, from Latin lapsus, from labi ("to slip").

Full definition of lapse

Noun

1. A temporary failure; a slip.
• Rogersto guard against those lapses and failings to which our infirmities daily expose us
2. A decline or fall in standards.
• RamblerThe lapse to indolence is soft and imperceptible.
3. A pause in continuity.
4. An interval of time between events.
• I. TaylorFrancis Bacon was content to wait the lapse of long centuries for his expected revenue of fame.
5. A termination of a right etc, through disuse or neglect.
6. (weather) A marked decrease in air temperature with increasing altitude because the ground is warmer than the surrounding air. This condition usually occurs when skies are clear and between 1100 and 1600 hours, local time. Strong convection currents exist during lapse conditions. For chemical operations, the state is defined as unstable. This condition is normally considered the most unfavorable for the release of chemical agents. See lapse rate.
7. (legal) A common-law rule that if the person to whom property is willed were to die before the testator, then the gift would be ineffective.
8. (theology) A fall or apostasy.

Synonyms

• (a temporary failure, slip) blooper, blunder, boo-boo, defect, error, fault, faux pas, fluff, gaffe, mistake, slip, stumble, thinko

Derived terms

• time-lapse

• anti-lapse

Related terms

• lapsarian

Verb

1. (intransitive) To fall away gradually; to subside.
• Jonathan Swifta tendency to lapse into the barbarity of those northern nations from whom we are descended
• AddisonHomer, in his characters of Vulcan and Thersites, has lapsed into the burlesque character.
2. (intransitive) To fall into error or heresy.
• ShakespeareTo lapse in fullness
  Is sorer than to lie for need.
3. To slip into a bad habit that one is trying to avoid.
4. (intransitive) To become void.
5. To fall or pass from one proprietor to another, or from the original destination, by the omission, negligence, or failure of somebody, such as a patron or legatee.
• AyliffeIf the archbishop shall not fill it up within six months ensuing, it lapses to the king.

Anagrams

• leaps, pales, peals, pleas, salep, sepal, spale