lapse

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A small, temporary failure, especially of memory or attention.

   In a brief lapse of concentration, she missed the most important point of the lecture.

2. 2
   noun

   A pause or gap during which something stops happening.

   After a lapse of three weeks, the letters finally started arriving again.

3. 3
   verb

   To gradually come to an end or stop being valid.

   He forgot to renew it, so his gym membership quietly lapsed.

4. 4
   verb

   To slowly slip or sink into a worse or less active state.

   Whenever she is tired, she tends to lapse into her old bad habits.

Simplified etymology

Lapse comes from Latin lapsus, derived from labi “to glide, slip, or fall,” with influence from Latin lapsare “to slip or stumble.”

From Middle French laps, from Latin lāpsus, from lābī (“to slip”). Doublet of lapsus.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary