Nearby Words
noun
1.
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.
2.
a slip or error, often of a trivial sort; failure: a lapse of memory.
3.
an interval or passage of time; elapsed period: a lapse of ten minutes before the program resumed.
4.
a moral fall, as from rectitude or virtue.
5.
EXPANDa fall or decline to a lower grade, condition, or degree; descent; regression: a lapse into savagery.
6.
the act of falling, slipping, sliding, etc., slowly or by degrees.
7.
a falling into disuse.
8.
Insurance. discontinuance of coverage resulting from nonpayment of a premium; termination of a policy.
9.
Law. the termination of a right or privilege through neglect to exercise it or through failure of some contingency.
10.
Meteorology. lapse rate.
11.
COLLAPSEArchaic. a gentle, downward flow, as of water.
verb (used without object)
12.
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.
13.
to come to an end; stop: We let our subscription to that magazine lapse.
14.
to fall, slip, or sink; subside: to lapse into silence.
15.
to fall into disuse: The custom lapsed after a period of time.
16.
EXPANDto deviate or abandon principles, beliefs, etc.: to lapse into heresy.
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Lapses
is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
| the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. |
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
Origin:
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
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
Related forms
laps·er, noun
un·laps·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
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Link To lapses
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
lapse
1520s, "slip of the memory," from M.Fr. laps "lapse," from L. lapsus "a slipping and falling, flight (of time), falling into error," from labi "to slip, glide, fall." Meaning "a moral slip" is from 1580s; that of "a falling away from one's faith" is from 1650s. Legal sense of "termination of a right
EXPAND or privilege" first recorded 1560s. The verb is first attested 1640s. Related: Lapsed; lapses.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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