LAPSED

lapsed, nonchurchgoing

(adjective) no longer active or practicing; “a lapsed Catholic”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Verb

lapsed

simple past tense and past participle of lapse

Adjective

lapsed (not generally comparable, comparative more lapsed, superlative most lapsed)

Discontinued; having ceased or gone out of use.

(of a person) Changed to a less valued condition or state; especially having lost one's religious faith.

(jocular) By extension, having changed a (secular) belief or adherence.

(archaic, of a legacy) Having passed from the original holder or authority; no longer claimed.

Anagrams

• padles, pedals, pleads, pleas'd, splade

Source: Wiktionary

Lapsed, a.

1. Having slipped downward, backward, or away; having lost position, privilege, etc., by neglect; -- restricted to figurative uses. Once more I will renew His lapsed powers, though forfeit. Milton.

2. Ineffectual, void, or forfeited; as, a lapsed policy of insurance; a lapsed legacy. Lapsed devise, Lapsed legacy (Law), a devise, or legacy, which fails to take effect in consequence of the death of the devisee, or legatee, before that of the testator, or for ether cause. Wharton (Law Dict.).

LAPSE

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