LAPSE

backsliding, lapse, lapsing, relapse, relapsing, reversion, reverting

(noun) a failure to maintain a higher state

oversight, lapse

(noun) a mistake resulting from inattention

lapse

(noun) a break or intermission in the occurrence of something; “a lapse of three weeks between letters”

relapse, lapse, recidivate, regress, retrogress, fall back

(verb) go back to bad behavior; “Those who recidivate are often minor criminals”

lapse, backslide

(verb) drop to a lower level, as in one’s morals or standards

lapse

(verb) end, at least for a long time; “The correspondence lapsed”

sink, pass, lapse

(verb) pass into a specified state or condition; “He sank into nirvana”

elapse, lapse, pass, slip by, glide by, slip away, go by, slide by, go along

(verb) pass by; “three years elapsed”

lapse

(verb) let slip; “He lapsed his membership”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

lapse (plural lapses)

A temporary failure; a slip.

Synonyms: blooper, gaffe, thinko, Thesaurus:error

A decline or fall in standards.

A pause in continuity.

Synonyms: hiatus, moratorium, Thesaurus:pause

An interval of time between events.

Synonyms: between-time, gap, Thesaurus:interim

A termination of a right etc, through disuse or neglect.

(meteorology) A marked decrease in air temperature with increasing altitude because the ground is warmer than the surrounding air.

(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.

(theology) A fall or apostasy.

Verb

lapse (third-person singular simple present lapses, present participle lapsing, simple past and past participle lapsed)

(intransitive) To fall away gradually; to subside.

(intransitive) To fall into error or heresy.

To slip into a bad habit that one is trying to avoid.

(intransitive) To become void.

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.

Anagrams

• ALSEP, ELSPA, Lapes, Leaps, Pales, Peals, Slape, e-pals, leaps, lepas, pales, peals, pleas, salep, sepal, slape, spale

Source: Wiktionary


Lapse, n. Etym: [L. lapsus, fr. labi, p. p. lapsus, to slide, to fall: cf. F. laps. See Sleep.]

1. A gliding, slipping, or gradual falling; an unobserved or imperceptible progress or passing away,; -- restricted usually to immaterial things, or to figurative uses. The lapse to indolence is soft and imperceptible. Rambler. Bacon was content to wait the lapse of long centuries for his expected revenue of fame. I. Taylor.

2. A slip; an error; a fault; a failing in duty; a slight deviation from truth or rectitude. To guard against those lapses and failings to which our infirmities daily expose us. Rogers.

3. (Law)

Definition: The termination of a right or privilege through neglect to exercise it within the limited time, or through failure of some contingency; hence, the devolution of a right or privilege.

4. (Theol.)

Definition: A fall or apostasy.

Lapse, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Lapsed; p. pr. & vb. n. Lapsing.]

1. To pass slowly and smoothly downward, backward, or away; to slip downward, backward, or away; to glide; -- mostly restricted to figurative uses. A tendency to lapse into the barbarity of those northern nations from whom we are descended. Swift. Homer, in his characters of Vulcan and Thersites, has lapsed into the burlesque character. Addison.

2. To slide or slip in moral conduct; to fail in duty; to fall from virtue; to deviate from rectitude; to commit a fault by inadvertence or mistake. To lapse in fullness Is sorer than to lie for need. Shak.

3. (Law) (a) To fall or pass from one proprietor to another, or from the original destination, by the omission, negligence, or failure of some one, as a patron, a legatee, etc. (b) To become ineffectual or void; to fall. If the archbishop shall not fill it up within six months ensuing, it lapses to the king. Ayliffe.

Lapse, v. t.

1. To let slip; to permit to devolve on another; to allow to pass. An appeal may be deserted by the appellant's lapsing the term of law. Ayliffe.

2. To surprise in a fault or error; hence, to surprise or catch, as an offender. [Obs.] For which, if be lapsed in this place, I shall pay dear. Shak.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

28 April 2024

POLYGENIC

(adjective) of or relating to an inheritable character that is controlled by several genes at once; of or related to or determined by polygenes


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Coffee Trivia

According to WorldAtlas, Canada is the only non-European country to make its top ten list of coffee consumers. The United States at a distant 25 on the list.

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