Phrase guide

lapsus linguae

noun · 1 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌlæpsəs ˈlɪŋɡwiː/

1

noun

Meaning 1

An inadvertent remark; a slip of the tongue.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: formal

Examples

  • a'''1789, Rev. Mr. Bramston, "The Art of Politics, in Imitation of Horace’s Art of Poetry", Epistle X in John Bell (ed.), Classical Arrangement of Fugitive Poetry, Volume V, John Bell (1789), page 112, Is there a man on earth so perfect found, / Who ne’er mistook a word in sense or sound ? / Not blund’ring, but persisting is the fault ; / No mortal sin is lapsus linguae thought : / Clerks may mistake ; considering who ’tis from, / I pardon little slips in Cler. Dom. Com.
  • 1898, Pisistratus Caxton, My Novel, or Varieties in English Life, Volume I, George Routledge & sons, page 395, “The devil they do, ma’am!” bolted out Richard, gruffly ; and then, ashamed of his lapsus linguæ, screwed up his lips firmly, and glared at the company with an eye of indignant fire.
  • 2006, Daniele Chatelain and George Slusser (trs.), Honoré de Balzac (author), The Centenarian: Or, the Two Beringhelds, Wesleyan University Press, →ISBN, page 229, “As he said this, you can imagine our surprise; we thought the man must be out of his head, or that it was a lapsus linguae: yet the strength of his convictions caused us to persist in our first opinion. [...]”

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Latin lāpsus linguae (literally “slip or fault of the tongue”), from lāpsus (“fault”) and linguae (the genitive form of lingua (“tongue”)).

Across languages

Translations

8 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: lipsahdus — An inadvertent remark
  • Finnish: lapsus — An inadvertent remark
  • Greek: παραδρομή της γλώσσας (paradromí tis glóssas) — An inadvertent remark
  • Hungarian: nyelvbotlás — An inadvertent remark
  • Icelandic: mismæli — An inadvertent remark
  • Icelandic: munnvarp — An inadvertent remark
  • Polish: lapsus — An inadvertent remark
  • Spanish: lapsus línguae — An inadvertent remark