All 3 Uses

lapse
in
The Bell Jar
(Edited)

My father had been a Lutheran in Wisconsin, but they were out of style in New England, so he had become a lapsed Lutheran and then, my mother said, a bitter atheist.
Chpt 13 *

lapsed = no longer practicing
When she left I would simply lapse into the old blankness.
Chpt 15

lapse = change
In one way it seemed a small thing, starting, after a six months' lapse, where I had so vehemently left off.
Chpt 20 *

lapse = temporary period of changed behavior

Definitions:

(1) (lapse as in: a lapse in judgement)
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:
- example indicating 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."
(2) (lapse as in: allowed the policy to lapse)
end or terminate -- often of legal rights or of a person's association with an organization
(3) (lapse as in: after the lapse of many hours)
a period of time -- often a period that has passed
(4) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)