hiatus
hiatus Lexical Profile
hiatus Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A pause or break in continuity in a sequence or activity.
"The band announced they would be taking a two-year hiatus before recording their next album."
A gap or missing part in a manuscript, series, or logical argument; a lacuna.
"Historians discovered a significant hiatus in the archival records from the fourteenth century."
A natural opening, aperture, or fissure in an anatomical structure or organ, such as the diaphragm.
"The surgeon carefully examined the esophageal hiatus to repair the patient's hernia."
A break or slight pause between two adjacent vowels in consecutive syllables, without an intervening consonant.
"In phonology, the word 'cooperate' exhibits a vocalic hiatus between the first two syllables."
• Rhymes for hiatus
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the mid-16th century directly from Latin 'hiatus', meaning an opening, cleft, or gap, derived from the verb 'hiare' (to gape or yawn).