Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A gap or interruption in space, time, or continuity; a break: "We are likely to be disconcerted by . . . hiatuses of thought” ( Edmund Wilson).
- n. Linguistics A slight pause that occurs when two immediately adjacent vowels in consecutive syllables are pronounced, as in reality and naive.
- n. Anatomy A separation, aperture, fissure, or short passage in an organ or body part.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An opening; an aperture; a gap; a chasm.
- n. In anatomy, a foramen.
- n. In grammar and prosody, the coming together of two vowels without intervening consonant in successive words or syllables of one word.
- n. A space from which something requisite to completeness is absent, as a missing link in a genealogy, an interval of unknown history, a lost or erased part of a manuscript, etc.; a lacuna; a break.
- n. Specifically, in logic, a fault of demonstration, consisting in the omission to prove some premise made use of, and not self-evident or admitted.
Wiktionary
- n. A gap in a series, making it incomplete.
- n. A syllable break between two vowels, without an intervening consonant. (Compare diphthong.)
- n. The condition of having such a break.
- n. Words like reality and naïve contain vowels in hiatus.
- n. A gap in geological strata.
- n. An opening in an organ.
- n. An interruption, break or pause.
- n. A vacation, break from work.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. 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.
- n. The concurrence of two vowels in two successive words or syllables.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a missing piece (as a gap in a manuscript)
- n. an interruption in the intensity or amount of something
- n. a natural opening or perforation through a bone or a membranous structure
Etymologies
- Latin hiātus, from past participle of hiāre, to gape.
Examples
“Cleopatra _Cleopatra_ compatriot _compatriot_ gratis _gratis_ or _grahtis_ harem _harem_ or _hahrem_ heinous _hanous_ hiatus _hiatus_ implacable _implakable_ nape _nap_ née _na_ négligé _naglezha'_ patron _patron_ protégé _protazha'_ résumé _razuma'_ tenacious _tenashus_ tomato _tomato_ or _tomahto_ valet _va'la_ or _val'et_ vase _vas, vahz_, or _vaz_ veracious _verashus_ vivacious _vivashus_”
“Why doesn't he opt for a hiatus from the political arena and appoint somebody to run the state for a while?”
“On an unrelated note, yes we took a hiatus from the SpouseBUZZ Challenge due to travel and SpouseBUZZ event, but get ready - it's about to start up again ....”
“One Heroes Season 4 rumor, and an update on what Masi Oka aka Hiro has been doing during his hiatus from the show.”
July 2010 | Heroes: NBC TV Show/Series – News, Spoilers, Reviews, and Fan Forum
“Trevor took a hiatus from a very successful private sector career to give service to the Republican Party this year," Steele said in the statement.”
“For some couples the most viable option may be for one parent to take temporary hiatus from the workforce.”
“Personally, I think a two year fall turkey season hiatus is needed to restore the population.”
“I am not kidding – as I opened up my computer to read your article we had the Muppet Show playing in the background after a long hiatus from the DVD rotation.”
“Jerine said ... omg. .ivan, you appear like a ghost. i thought you're in hiatus again”
“Hollywood, after an eight-year hiatus, is back in town.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘hiatus’.
-
GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
-
Visuals
A list of words which yield surprising, beautiful, amusing, or otherwise noteworthy images here on Wordnik.
photochrom, fufluns, thank you, cool l..., postcard, picture postcard, cricket, physiological ill..., Gakuryū Ishii, ametropia, One Froggy Evening, rhodopsin, Santiago Calatrava and 624 more...
-
The weird, the wonderful and the plain hilarious
Loved for their ingenuity, an exact description, or simply for the pure joy of it.
acidulous, aprosdoketon, higgledy-piggledy, lexicographical, ninja, audacious, somnabulist, shivaree, amorphous, quidnunc, glib, melancholy and 353 more...
-
Specifically
Being a list of words which have "specifically" in their definitions.
recompose, specifically, Dutch, abstinence, discipline, virtue, namely, opening, century, amalgamation, cup, second and 281 more...
-
List 15
compelling, clandestine, capacious, captivate, amicable, emulate, fetter, frugal, hackneyed, hiatus, inane, jubilant and 13 more...
-
The Gentle Life
Words relating to quiet, inactivity, peace.
desuetude, languor, halcyon, placidness, quiescent, elysian, relaxation, meditation, lassitude, hiatus, respite, pacific and 16 more...
-
fancy essay words
hiatus, ontology, exegesis, hermeneutics, dialectics, demiurge, ascertain, contention, eschatological, synecdoche, centripetal, centrifugal and 86 more...

brtom He sees health for himself in being one of the mass—he sees the hiatus in singular eminence. Whitman, Preface 1855 Dec 9, 2006