Definitions for lapse

• Definition
• Anagrams (89)

lapse lapse

Spelling: [laps]

IPA: /læps/

Lapse is a 5 letter English word. It's valid Scrabble word worth 7 points. It's valid Words with friends word worth 9 points.

You can make 89 anagrams from letters in lapse (aelps).

Definitions for lapse

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:
2. a slip or error, often of a trivial sort; failure:
3. an interval or passage of time; elapsed period:
4. a moral fall, as from rectitude or virtue.
5. a fall or decline to a lower grade, condition, or degree; descent; regression:
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. Archaic. a gentle, downward flow, as of water.

verb (used without object)

1. to fall or deviate from a previous standard; fail to maintain a normative level:
2. to come to an end; stop:
3. to fall, slip, or sink; subside:
4. to fall into disuse:
5. to deviate or abandon principles, beliefs, etc.:
6. to fall spiritually, as an apostate:
7. to pass away, as time; elapse.
8. Law. to become void, as a legacy to someone who dies before the testator.
9. to cease being in force; terminate:

Origin of lapse

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

Examples for lapse

That lapse was partly mitigated by the rise of blog­ging, which encouraged user-generated content.

But the lapse of a few months will confirm or dispel their fears.

After the lapse of half an hour or so, the elder Chester, gaily dressed, went out.

They can buy whatever insurance they need to get the gun, and then let it lapse.

Cezanne is full of details, too, of course, but we know that they will endure a lapse in our attention.

It was not, however, before the lapse of several months that he succeeded.

Only recently, after the lapse of years, did I learn the cause of their deserting me.

Discredited by lapse of time and offensive to the popular taste, as an old book.

Today no one in either party would accept such a benign explanation for a lapse in security, nor should they.

With Black History Month looming, I decided to rectify the lapse.