Other forms: lapsed, lapses, lapsing
A lapse is a small failure of memory or attention. A lapse of concentration, a memory lapse, a lapse in judgement.
It is a slip rather than a pattern, and calling something a lapse is a way of saying it was out of character. As a verb, to lapse means to expire — the policy lapsed, a lapsed membership — or to fall back into an old state: lapse into silence. A lapsed Catholic is one who has stopped practising. Note the difference from relapse, which is falling back into something worse.
1nounlapseA small failure of memory or attention.
“In a moment's lapse, she left her keys in the front door overnight.”
2verbexpireTo expire, or to fall back into a former state.
“My passport lapsed last year, so I need to renew it before the trip.”
lapse is a slip or an expiry.
Latin lapsus comes from labi, to slip. Collapse, elapse and relapse are the same slipping, and a lapse of time is the same word as a lapse of memory.
Latin
lāpsus
Middle French
laps
English, today
lapse
Built from
From Middle French laps, from Latin lāpsus, from lābī (“to slip”). a doublet of lapsus.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA