hiatus

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: hi=a=tus

CIDE DICTIONARY

hiatus, n. [L., fr. hiare, hiatum, to gape; akin to E. yawn. See Yawn.].

•  An opening; an aperture; a gap; a chasm; esp., a defect in a manuscript, where some part is lost or effaced; a space where something is wanting; a break.  [1913 Webster]
•  The concurrence of two vowels in two successive words or syllables.  Pope.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

hiatus, n. (pl. hiatuses)
1 a break or gap, esp. in a series, account, or chain of proof.
2 Prosody & Gram. a break between two vowels coming together but not in the same syllable, as in though oft the ear.

Derivative

hiatal adj.

Etymology

L, = gaping f. hiare gape

THESAURUS

hiatus

aperture, arrearage, breach, break, broaching, caesura, cavity, cessation, chasm, check, clearance, clearing, cleft, crack, defalcation, defect, deficiency, deficit, disclosure, discontinuity, distance between, double space, em space, en space, fenestra, fissure, fistula, fontanel, foramen, freeboard, gap, gape, gat, gulf, hair space, half space, hole, hollow, inlet, interim, intermediate space, intermission, interruption, interspace, interstice, interval, jump, lack, lacuna, laying open, leak, leap, leeway, letup, lull, margin, missing link, need, omission, opening, opening up, orifice, outage, outlet, passageway, pause, pore, room, shortage, single space, slot, space, space between, split, stoma, suspension, throwing open, time interval, ullage, uncorking, unstopping, want, wantage, yawn

ROGET THESAURUS

hiatus

Absence

N absence, inexistence, nonresidence, absenteeism, nonattendance, alibi, emptiness, void, vacuum, vacuity, vacancy, tabula rasa, exemption, hiatus, lipotype, truant, absentee, nobody, nobody present, nobody on earth, not a soul, ame qui vive, absent, not present, away, nonresident, gone, from home, missing, lost, wanting, omitted, nowhere to be found, inexistence, empty, void, vacant, vacuous, untenanted, unoccupied, uninhabited, tenantless, barren, sterile, desert, deserted, devoid, uninhabitable, without, minus, nowhere, elsewhere, neither here nor there, in default of, sans, behind one's back, the bird has flown, non est inventus, absence makes the heart grow fonder, absent in body but present in spirit, absento nemo ne nocuisse velit, Achilles absent was Achilles still, aux absents les os, briller par son absence, conspicuous by his absence, in the hope to meet shortly again and make our abs.

Interval

N interval, interspace, separation, break, gap, opening, hole, chasm, hiatus, caesura, interruption, interregnum, interstice, lacuna, cleft, mesh, crevice, chink, rime, creek, cranny, crack, chap, slit, fissure, scissure, rift, flaw, breach, rent, gash, cut, leak, dike, ha-ha, gorge, defile, ravine, canon, crevasse, abyss, abysm, gulf, inlet, frith, strait, gully, pass, furrow, abra, barranca, barranco, clove, gulch, notch, yawning gulf, hiatus maxime, hiatus valde deflendus, parenthesis, void, incompleteness, period, interim (time), with an interval, far between, breachy, rimose, rimulose, at intervals, longo intervallo.