Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The interval of time between the end of a sovereign's reign and the accession of a successor.
- n. A period of temporary suspension of the usual functions of government or control.
- n. A gap in continuity.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An intermission between reigns; an interval of time elapsing between the end of one reign and the beginning of the next, as in the case of a disputed or uncertain succession.
- n. Hence An intermission in any order of succession; any breach of continuity in action or influence.
Wiktionary
- n. The period of time between the end of a sovereign's reign and the accession of another sovereign.
- n. A period of time during which normal executive leadership is suspended or interrupted.
- n. An intermission in any order of succession; any breach of continuity in action or influence.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The time during which a throne is vacant between the death or abdication of a sovereign and the accession of his successor.
- n. Any period during which, for any cause, the executive branch of a government is suspended or interrupted.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the time between two reigns, governments, etc.
Etymologies
- Latin : inter-, inter- + rēgnum, reign; see reign.
Examples
“Are there again interregnum periods between the ages as between gold and silver?”
“The presidential interregnum is a recurrent period of danger.”
“Seriously, I am sorry that you are in interregnum ...”
“The 'interregnum' however - Blair remaining PM until June 27 - smacks again of a slow move to a presidential system.”
“As for the notable events of the "interregnum" as I have called it, which had their culmination on March 31st, I shall maintain a discreet and non-partisan silence; for I suspect that our description of those events would range all the way from calamitous to miraculous.”
“They formed a kind of interregnum in my life, quite different from anything that had gone before and perhaps from anything that is to come, and they taught me things that I could not have learned in any other way.”
“And so it is we live between two eschatological moments, an interregnum of sorts, as the kingdom of Satan gives way to the kingdom of Christ, according to another Family Radio document: warfare ... exists between these kingdoms and ...”
The Huffington Post: Michael Gilmour: Ozzy Osbourne And The Apocalypse
“Blair described a strange interregnum when there was considerable interchange between American and Russian nuclear designers, almost all of whom were looking forward to a future of mutual cooperation and reassurance so that we could slowly climb down together from the twin peaks of nuclear hostility.”
“But he concedes the broadcaster has been "in an interregnum creatively" between Julian Bellamy's departure and Hunt's arrival, at the time of the Countryfile debacle.”
“IA: Back in the 1940s I decided to write a series of historical stories of the future, a tale of the fall of the galactic empire and the interregnum that came before the rise of the second galactic empire, and I'll tell you frankly, I got the idea from Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘interregnum’.
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January 2012
pique, pedigree, tutelage, epochal, verisimilitude, bloviate, jocular, jocund, gleam, babel, apparat, bedfellow and 196 more...
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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...
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Blippets
Time~sphere phenomena, manipulations, fluctuations, processes, measurements, and oddities. For use in building my machine.
microfortnight, transilient, instant, flash, breath, blink, beat, momentary, nimesha, truti, second, centisecond and 111 more...
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Greg's List
precarious, transient, evanescence, impermanence, fugacity, transitoriness, volatility, caducity, span, interregnum, effervescent, mine and 63 more...
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Awesome Names for Your Heavy Metal Band
onslaught, gamecock, chthonic, hoarfrost, kernicterus, keelhaul, simulacrum, clavicle, interregnum, catafalque, gravamen, blunderbuss and 47 more...
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Words with that horrible 'gn' sound
pregnant, interregnum, impregnable, signal, signature, prognosis, ignorant, ignominious, magnum, diagnosis, designation, incognito and 37 more...
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The Lies of Locke Lamora
Words and phrases from Scott Lynch's book, The Lies of Locke Lamora
constable, windfall, sternum, commensurate, disinter, grotty, thresher shark, savvy, miser, reticent, magnanimous, trowel and 301 more...
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SimianFarmer's Words
abnegate, abstemious, amative, ameliorate, apocryphal, apothegm, apotheosis, apposite, arrogate, assiduous, badinage, beneficence and 133 more...
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Dictionary.com Words of the Days of 2000
1999 · 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007 · 2008
segue, palimpsest, bête noire, farrago, expatiate, nadir, protean, fulsome, constitutional, quondam, sinecure, vainglory and 324 more...
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Definitions
Esoteric words for me
pleroma, syzygy, antanaclasis, Therapeutae, Essenes, arcane, germane, apposite, conurbation, sinecure, antiphonal, coenobite and 117 more...
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personal distaste
good grief, I'm getting irritable.
salvo, taboo, redoubtable, foment, intransigence, disingenuous, infarction, obviate, junta, aetiology, expedited, gerrymandering and 169 more...
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drseatbelt's Words
bilious, centenarian, droll, palliative, cortege, stultify, polysemy, suffuse, lambent, timorous, aegis, modicum and 224 more...
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curligirli0's Words
crapulous, swish, shiatsu, zen, xenoglossy, nincompoop, loquacious, pianissimo, onomatopoeia, imperturbable, silky, hosanas and 379 more...
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use•ful
palmary, glossolalia, bothum, high-proof, synesthesia, odious, autochthonous, yawp, mordacious, dynamo, dishevel, titely and 396 more...
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tranquill's Words
loquacious, unmitigated, trundle, ephemeral, vociferous, trapezoidal, liminal, obsequious, veracity, squash, onomatopoeia, oscillate and 262 more...
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slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
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