lapse

Definitions

• A temporary failure; a slip.
• A decline or fall in standards.
• A pause in continuity.
• An interval of time between events.
• A termination of a right etc., through disuse or neglect.
• (meteorology) A marked decrease in air temperature with increasing altitude because the ground is warmer than the surrounding air.
• (legal) 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.
• (theology) A fall or apostasy.