• (British, America) IPA: /læps/

lapse (plural lapses)

1. A temporary failure; a slip.

   Synonyms: blooper, gaffe, thinko, Thesaurus:error

2. A decline or fall in standards.
3. A pause in continuity.

   Synonyms: hiatus, moratorium, Thesaurus:pause

4. An interval of time between events.

   Synonyms: between-time, gap, Thesaurus:interim

5. A termination of a right etc., through disuse or neglect.
6. (meteorology) A marked decrease in air temperature with increasing altitude because the ground is warmer than the surrounding air.
7. (legal) A common-law rule that if the person to whom property is will#Verb|willed were to die before the testator, then the gift would be ineffective.
8. (theology) A fall or apostasy.

• lapsarian

• French: erreur, faute
• German: Entgleisung
• Portuguese: lapso
• Russian: ля́псус
• Spanish: lapso, desliz

• Portuguese: prescrição
• Spanish: prescripción

lapse (lapses, present participle lapsing; past and past participle lapsed)

1. (intransitive) To fall away gradually; to subside.
2. (intransitive) To fall into error or heresy.
   • 1611 April (first recorded performance)​, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene vi], page 385 ↗, column 2:

     To lapſe in Fullneſſe / Is ſorer, than to lye for Neede: and Falſhood / Is worſe in Kings, than Beggers.

3. To slip into a bad habit that one is trying to avoid.
4. (intransitive) To become void.
5. 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.