Standard Lemma guide

lapse

noun · verb · 22 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK, US: /læps/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -æps
  • homophone: laps
  • CMU ARPABET: L AE1 P S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A temporary failure; a slip.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • memory lapse
  • lapse of judgment
  • lapse in security
  • lapse in concentration

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: blooper, gaffe, thinko, aberration, bloomer, blunder, boner, boo-boo, break, clanger, cock-up, disadventure, error, fault, faux pas, floater, flub, fluff, fuckup, goof, howler, inaccuracy, lapse, lapsus, mess-up, misadventure, misstep, mistake, oopsy, screwup, slip, slip-up, slipup, stumble, wrength, solecism, erroneity

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A decline or fall in standards.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A pause in continuity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hiatus, moratorium, break, breather, cessation, demurral, gap, caesura, halt, halting, interregnum, interruption, lapse, pause, recess, respite, resting, stoppage, stopping, suspension

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

An interval of time between events.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: between-time, gap, interim, interlapse, lapse, meantime, meanwhile

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A termination of a right etc., through disuse or neglect.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

A marked decrease in air temperature with increasing altitude because the ground is warmer than the surrounding air.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: climatology, meteorology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

A common-law rule that if the person to whom property is willed were to die before the testator, then the gift would be ineffective.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: law

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

A fall or apostasy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: lifestyle, religion, theology

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

verb

Meaning 9

To fall away gradually; to subside.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

verb

Meaning 10

To fall into error or heresy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

11

verb

Meaning 11

To slip into a bad habit that one is trying to avoid.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

12

verb

Meaning 12

To become void.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

13

verb

Meaning 13

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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

14

noun

Meaning 14

a failure to maintain a higher state

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: backsliding, lapsing, relapse, relapsing, reversion, reverting

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: failure

Narrower terms: recidivism

15

noun

Meaning 15

a mistake resulting from inattention

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: oversight

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: mistake, error, fault

16

noun

Meaning 16

a break or intermission in the occurrence of something

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a lapse of three weeks between letters

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: pause, intermission, break, interruption, suspension

17

verb

Meaning 17

go back to bad behavior

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • Those who recidivate are often minor criminals

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: relapse, recidivate, regress, retrogress, fall back

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: revert, return, retrovert, regress, turn back

18

verb

Meaning 18

drop to a lower level, as in one's morals or standards

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: backslide

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: slip, drop off, drop away, fall away

19

verb

Meaning 19

end, at least for a long time

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • The correspondence lapsed

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: end, stop, finish, terminate, cease

20

verb

Meaning 20

pass into a specified state or condition

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • He sank into nirvana

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sink, pass

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: move

21

verb

Meaning 21

pass by

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • three years elapsed

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: elapse, pass, slip by, glide by, slip away, go by, slide by, go along

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: advance, progress, pass on, move on, march on, go on

Narrower terms: fly, fell, vanish

22

verb

Meaning 22

let slip

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • He lapsed his membership

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: forfeit, give up, throw overboard, waive, forgo, forego

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

27 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: малка грешка (malka greška) — a temporary failure; a slip
  • Bulgarian: пропуск (propusk) — a temporary failure; a slip
  • Catalan: lapsus — a temporary failure; a slip
  • Dutch: vergissing — a temporary failure; a slip
  • Dutch: fout — a temporary failure; a slip
  • French: erreur — a temporary failure; a slip
  • French: faute — a temporary failure; a slip
  • German: Entgleisung — a temporary failure; a slip
  • German: Ausrutscher — a temporary failure; a slip
  • Polish: błąd — a temporary failure; a slip
  • Polish: pomyłka — a temporary failure; a slip
  • Polish: potknięcie — a temporary failure; a slip
  • Portuguese: lapso — a temporary failure; a slip
  • Russian: ля́псус (ljápsus) — a temporary failure; a slip
  • Russian: оплошность (oplošnostʹ) — a temporary failure; a slip
  • Spanish: desliz — a temporary failure; a slip
  • Spanish: lapsus — a temporary failure; a slip
  • Dutch: tenietgang — a termination of a right, etc, through disuse or neglect.
  • Dutch: verstrijken — a termination of a right, etc, through disuse or neglect.
  • German: Verfallen — a termination of a right, etc, through disuse or neglect.
  • German: Erlöschen — a termination of a right, etc, through disuse or neglect.
  • German: Verfall — a termination of a right, etc, through disuse or neglect.
  • Greek: παραγραφή (paragrafí) — a termination of a right, etc, through disuse or neglect.
  • Portuguese: prescrição — a termination of a right, etc, through disuse or neglect.
  • Spanish: prescripción — a termination of a right, etc, through disuse or neglect.
  • Spanish: lapso — an interval of time between events
  • Spanish: incidir — Translations