lapse

Noun · Verb
Synonyms: oversightbackslidinglapsingrelapserelapsingreversionrevertingsinkpassbacksliderecidivateregress

WordNet 3.0

Noun (3)

  1. a mistake resulting from inattentionSynonyms: oversight
  2. a break or intermission in the occurrence of something“a lapse of three weeks between letters”
  3. a failure to maintain a higher stateSynonyms: backslidinglapsingrelapserelapsingreversionreverting

Verb (6)

  1. pass into a specified state or condition“He sank into nirvana”Synonyms: sinkpass
  2. end, at least for a long time“The correspondence lapsed”
  3. drop to a lower level, as in one's morals or standardsSynonyms: backslide
  4. go back to bad behavior“Those who recidivate are often minor criminals”Synonyms: relapserecidivateregressretrogressfall back
  5. let slip“He lapsed his membership”
  6. pass by“three years elapsed”Synonyms: elapsepassslip byglide byslip awaygo byslide bygo along
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Lapse \Lapse\, v. t.

1.To let slip; to permit to devolve on another; to allow to pass. [1913 Webster]

An appeal may be deserted by the appellant's lapsing the term of law.— Ayliffe.[1913 Webster]

2.To surprise in a fault or error; hence, to surprise or catch, as an offender. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

For which, if be lapsed in this place, I shall pay dear.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
Lapse \Lapse\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Lapsed; p. pr. & vb. n. Lapsing.]

1.To pass slowly and smoothly downward, backward, or away; to slip downward, backward, or away; to glide; -- mostly restricted to figurative uses. [1913 Webster]

A tendency to lapse into the barbarity of those northern nations from whom we are descended.— Swift.[1913 Webster]
Homer, in his characters of Vulcan and Thersites, has lapsed into the burlesque character.— Addison.[1913 Webster]

2.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. [1913 Webster]

To lapse in fullness Is sorer than to lie for need.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

3.(Law) (a) 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. (b) To become ineffectual or void; to fall. [1913 Webster]

If the archbishop shall not fill it up within six months ensuing, it lapses to the king.— Ayliffe.[1913 Webster]
Lapse \Lapse\ (l[a^]ps), n. [L. lapsus, fr. labi, p. p. lapsus, to slide, to fall: cf. F. laps. See Sleep.]

1.A gliding, slipping, or gradual falling; an unobserved or imperceptible progress or passing away,; -- restricted usually to immaterial things, or to figurative uses. [1913 Webster]

The lapse to indolence is soft and imperceptible.— Rambler.[1913 Webster]
Bacon was content to wait the lapse of long centuries for his expected revenue of fame.— I. Taylor.[1913 Webster]

2.A slip; an error; a fault; a failing in duty; a slight deviation from truth or rectitude. [1913 Webster]

To guard against those lapses and failings to which our infirmities daily expose us.— Rogers.[1913 Webster]

3.(Law) 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. [1913 Webster]

4.(Theol.) A fall or apostasy. [1913 Webster]

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing

LAPSE

<language> A single assignment language for the Manchester dataflow machine.

["A Single Assignment Language for Data Flow Computing", J.R.W. Glauert, M.Sc Diss, Victoria U Manchester, 1978].

(1994-12-21)

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