Lapse

[læps]

Definition

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

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

(verb.) end, at least for a long time; 'The correspondence lapsed'.

(verb.) let slip; 'He lapsed his membership'.

Typist: Penelope--From WordNet

Definition

(n.) A gliding, slipping, or gradual falling; an unobserved or imperceptible progress or passing away,; -- restricted usually to immaterial things, or to figurative uses.

(n.) A slip; an error; a fault; a failing in duty; a slight deviation from truth or rectitude.

(n.) 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.

(n.) A fall or apostasy.

(v. i.) To pass slowly and smoothly downward, backward, or away; to slip downward, backward, or away; to glide; -- mostly restricted to figurative uses.

(v. i.) 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.

(v. i.) 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.

(v. i.) To become ineffectual or void; to fall.

(v. t.) To let slip; to permit to devolve on another; to allow to pass.

(v. t.) To surprise in a fault or error; hence, to surprise or catch, as an offender.

Checker: Marge

Synonyms and Synonymous

n. [1]. Flow, gliding, flowing, smooth course.[2]. Fall, decline, declension, falling off.[3]. Slip, fault, error, shortcoming.

v. n. [1]. Slip, glide, pass slowly.[2]. Fail in duty, commit a fault, fall from innocence.[3]. (Law.) Become void.

Edited by Henry

Synonyms and Antonyms

SYN:Gliding, falling, flow, onflow, flux, progress, escheatment, devolution,reversion, elapsing

ANT:Stability, uprightness, stationariness, fixture, arrestation, stoppage,retention, inheritance, possession

Edited by Arnold

Definition

v.i. to slip or glide: to pass by degrees: to fall from the faith or from virtue: to fail in duty: to pass to another proprietor &c. by the negligence of a patron to become void: to lose certain privileges by neglect of the necessary conditions.—n. a slipping or falling: a failing in duty: a fault.—adj. Lap′sable.—The lapsed the name applied in the early Christian Church to those who overcome by heathen persecution fell away from the faith.

Edited by Lenore