interregnum

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: in=ter=reg=num

CIDE DICTIONARY

interregnum, n. [L., fr. inter between + regnum dominion, reign. See Reign, and cf. Interreign.].

•  The time during which a throne is vacant between the death or abdication of a sovereign and the accession of his successor.  [1913 Webster]
•  Any period during which, for any cause, the executive branch of a government is suspended or interrupted.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

interregnum, n. (pl. interregnums or interregna)
1 an interval when the normal government is suspended, esp. between successive reigns or regimes.
2 an interval or pause.

Etymology

L (as INTER-, regnum reign)

DEVIL DICTIONARY

interregnum

n. The period during which a monarchical country is governed by a warm spot on the cushion of the throne. The experiment of letting the spot grow cold has commonly been attended by most unhappy results from the zeal of many worthy persons to make it warm again.

ROGET THESAURUS

interregnum

Laxity

N laxity, laxness, looseness, slackness, toleration, freedom, anarchy, interregnum, relaxation, loosening, remission, dead letter, brutum fulmen, misrule, license, licentiousness, insubordination, lynch law, nihilism, reign of violence, dethronement, deposition, usurpation, abdication, lax, loose, slack, remiss, weak, relaxed, licensed, reinless, unbridled, anarchical, unauthorized, adespotic.

Time

N time, duration, period, term, stage, space, span, spell, season, the whole time, the whole period, space-time, course, snap, intermediate time, while, interim, interval, pendency, intervention, intermission, intermittence, interregnum, interlude, respite, era, epoch, time of life, age, year, date, decade, moment, glass of time, sands of time, march of time, Father Time, ravages of time, arrow of time, river of time, whirligig of time, noiseless foot of time, scythe, continuing, on foot, permanent, while, whilst, during, pending, during the time, during the interval, in the course of, at that point, at that point in time, for the time being, day by day, in the time of, when, meantime, meanwhile, in the meantime, in the interim, ad interim, pendente lite, de die in diem, from day to day, from hour to hour, hourly, always, for a time, for a season, till, until, up to, yet, as far as, by that time, so far, hereunto, heretofore, prior to this, up to this point, the whole time, all the time, all along, throughout, for good, hereupon, thereupon, whereupon, then, anno Domini, A, D, ante Christum, A, C, before Christ, B, C, anno urbis conditae, A, U, C, anno regni, A, R, once upon a time, one fine morning, one fine day, one day, once, time flies, tempus fugit, time runs out, time runs against, race against time, racing the clock, time marches on, time is of the essence, time and tide wait for no man, ad calendas Groecas, panting Time toileth after him in vain, 'gainst the tooth of time and razure of oblivion, rich with the spoils of time, tempus edax rerum, the long hours come and go, the time is out of joint, Time rolls his ceaseless course, Time the foe of man's dominion, time wasted is existence, used is life, truditur dies die, volat hora per orbem, carpe diem.

Transientness

N transience, transientness, evanescence, impermanence, fugacity, caducity, mortality, span, nine days' wonder, bubble, Mayfly, spurt, flash in the pan, temporary arrangement, interregnum, velocity, suddenness, changeableness, transient, transient boarder, transient guest, transient, transitory, transitive, passing, evanescent, fleeting, cursory, short-lived, ephemeral, flying, fugacious, fugitive, shifting, slippery, spasmodic, instantaneous, momentaneous, temporal, temporary, provisional, provisory, deciduous, perishable, mortal, precarious, unstable, insecure, impermanent, brief, quick, brisk, extemporaneous, summary, pressed for time, sudden, momentary, temporarily, pro tempore, for the moment, for a time, awhile, en passant, in transitu, in a short time, soon, briefly, at short notice, on the point of, on the eve of, in articulo, between cup and lip, one's days are numbered, the time is up, here today and gone tomorrow, non semper erit aestas, eheu! fugaces labuntur anni, sic transit gloria mundi, a schoolboy's tale, the wonder of the hour!, dum loquimur fugerit invidia aetas, fugit hora, all that is transitory is but an illusion.

Cessation

N cessation, discontinuance, desistance, desinence, intermission, remission, suspense, suspension, interruption, stop, stopping, closure, stoppage, halt, arrival, pause, rest, lull, respite, truce, drop, interregnum, abeyance, cloture, dead stop, dead stand, dead lock, finis, cerrado, blowout, burnout, meltdown, disintegration, comma, colon, semicolon, period, full stop, end, death, I pause for a reply.

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.