Sample sentences for LAPSE - verbalworkout.com

3 meanings

(click/touch triangles for details)

1 —as in:
a lapse in judgement

Definition

a change in behavior or state—usually undesired such as a temporary failure

The exact meaning of this sense of lapse is often subject to its context:

basic example that simply indicates an undesired change in behavior — "lapsed into alcoholism"
example indicating that the change was short-term and due to a failure (often of effort or diligence) — "a lapse in judgment"
example indicating return to a previous undesired behavior or state — "lapsed into her old bad habits"
examples indicating a change in what was occurring where the change is not necessarily negative — "There was a lapse in the conversation," or "She stopped talking as she lapsed into her own internal world."

Apparently the error occurred because of a lapse in the air controller's concentration.

lapse = temporary failure

Other Uses (with this meaning)

Her job is to assure there is no lapse of the high standards at their hotels.

lapse = uncharacteristic failure

It was totally unlike them, this lapse from gentility, and it made them much more interesting.
Natalie Babbitt -- Tuck Everlasting

lapse = change in behavior

I don't like this lapsing into forgetfulness.
Bram Stoker -- Dracula

lapsing = changing to an unfavorable state

Reverend Sykes used his pulpit more freely to express his views on individual lapses from grace:
Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird

lapses = an undesired change in behavior

If ever I hear again of any lapse from a proper standard of infantile decorum, I shall ask for your transference to a Sub-Centre–preferably to Iceland.
Aldous Huxley -- Brave New World

lapse = change in behavior

With new respect she moved to pass him the wooden bowl of popcorn, and to it she added a smile that caused him to lapse again into scarlet-faced silence.
Elizabeth George Speare -- The Witch of Blackbird Pond

lapse = change in behavior or state

In an uncharacteristic lapse, McCandless gave his parents' Annandale address when the arresting officer demanded to know his permanent place of residence.
Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild

lapse = change in behavior (due to a lack of diligence)

A wolf, it is said—but here the tale has surely lapsed into the improbable—came up and smelt of Pearl's robe, and offered his savage head to be patted by her hand.
Nathaniel Hawthorne -- The Scarlet Letter

lapsed = changed state

I took an academic interest in the thought of stealing the car, knowing all the time that it would be not so much criminal as meaningless, a lapse into nothing, an escape into nowhere.
John Knowles -- A Separate Peace

lapse = a change in behavior or state

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

2 —as in:
allowed the policy to lapse

Definition

end or terminate — often of legal rights or of a person's association with an organization

She allowed her membership at the club to lapse.

lapse = end or terminate

Other Uses (with this meaning)

She allowed her life insurance to lapse.

lapse = end or terminate

I'm a lapsed vegetarian.

lapsed = terminated (no longer practicing)

Our correspondence lapsed.

lapsed = ended (stopped occurring)

Might it not, in the tedious lapse of official life that lay before me, finally be with me as it was with this venerable friend—to make the dinner-hour the nucleus of the day, and to spend the rest of it, as an old dog spends it, asleep in the sunshine or in the shade?
Nathaniel Hawthorne -- The Scarlet Letter

lapse = ending

Thousand-guilder notes are being declared invalid. ... The five-hundred notes will lapse at the same time.
Anne Frank -- The Diary of a Young Girl

lapse = end (no longer be accepted)

...at one time, some people remembered, there had been a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery, a perfunctory, tuneless chant that had been rattled off duly each year; ... but years and years ago this part of the ritual had been allowed to lapse.
Shirley Jackson -- The Lottery

lapse = end

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

3 —as in:
after the lapse of many hours

Definition

a period of time — often a period that has passed

Three weeks lapsed before they met again.

lapsed = passed

Other Uses (with this meaning)

There was a lapse of almost a fifth of a second between the time she saw the danger and began to run.

lapse = passage of time

She showed a time-lapse video of the flower growing.

time-lapse = a technique of showing events faster than they happen by taking a series of pictures, one after each passing of some time period, and then combing the pictures into a quick video

...I tried to decipher between lapses into stale sleep, the meaning of Leper's telegram.
John Knowles -- A Separate Peace

lapses = passages of time

These are the reflections of the first days; but when the lapse of time proves the reality of the evil, then the actual bitterness of grief commences.
Mary Shelley -- Frankenstein