hiatus - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Learned borrowing from Latin hiātus (“opening”) (mid-16th century), from hiō (“stand open, yawn”).

hiatus (countable and uncountable, plural **hiatus or hiatuses)

  1. A gap in a series, making it incomplete.
  2. An interruption, break or pause.
    The band decided to go on hiatus, citing creative differences.
    • 2023 December 13, Mel Holley, “Open access operations help to boost First's figures”, in RAIL, number 998, page 20:
      After a ten-year dividend hiatus, shareholder payments only re-started in July 2022.
  3. An unexpected break from work.
  4. (geology) A gap in geological strata.
    • 2012, Chinle Miller, “The Tectonic Forces of the Mesozoic”, in In Mesozoic Lands: The Mesozoic Geology of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Kindle edition, page 33:
      The beginning of the Mesozoic Era on the Colorado Plateau is marked by a regional hiatus or break of sedimentary deposition that lasted about 25 to 30 Ma.
  5. (anatomy) An opening in an organ.
    Hiatus aorticus is an opening in the diaphragm through which aorta and thoracic duct pass.
  6. (linguistics, uncountable) A syllable break between two vowels, without an intervening consonant. (Compare diphthong.)
    Words like reality and naïve contain vowels in hiatus.
  7. A temporary absence from the public or the mainstream.

gap in a series

interruption, break or pause

anatomy: opening in an organ

syllable break between two vowels

Translations to be checked

Internationalism (see English hiatus), ultimately from Latin hiātus.

hiatus

  1. (linguistics) A hiatus (syllable break between two vowels).
  2. (anatomy) A hiatus (opening in an organ).

Learned borrowing from Latin hiātus (“opening”), from hiō (“stand open”).

hiatus m (plural **hiatus)

  1. hiatus, gap
    Synonym: lacune
  2. (phonetics) hiatus

From hiō +‎ -tus.

hiātus m (genitive **hiātūs); fourth declension

  1. A hiatus, opening, gap, aperture, cleft

Fourth-declension noun.

hiatus m (invariable)

  1. Alternative form of hiato

hiatus n (plural hiatusuri)

  1. Alternative form of hiat