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Lapse vs Abate - What's the difference?

lapse | abate |

As nouns the difference between lapse and abate

is that lapse is while abate is .

lapse

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A temporary failure; a slip.
  • * Rogers
  • to guard against those lapses and failings to which our infirmities daily expose us
  • A decline or fall in standards.
  • * Rambler
  • The lapse to indolence is soft and imperceptible.
  • A pause in continuity.
  • An interval of time between events.
  • * I. Taylor
  • Francis Bacon was content to wait the lapse of long centuries for his expected revenue of fame.
  • A termination of a right etc, through disuse or neglect.
  • (weather) A marked decrease in air temperature with increasing altitude because the ground is warmer than the surrounding air. This condition usually occurs when skies are clear and between 1100 and 1600 hours, local time. Strong convection currents exist during lapse conditions. For chemical operations, the state is defined as unstable. This condition is normally considered the most unfavorable for the release of chemical agents. See lapse rate.
  • (legal) A common-law rule that if the person to whom property is ed were to die before the testator, then the gift would be ineffective.
  • (theology) A fall or apostasy.
  • Synonyms

    * blooper, blunder, boo-boo, defect, error, fault, faux pas, fluff, gaffe, mistake, slip, stumble, thinko

    Derived terms

    * time-lapse (common law rule) * anti-lapse

    Verb

    (laps)
  • To fall away gradually; to subside.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • a tendency to lapse into the barbarity of those northern nations from whom we are descended
  • * Addison
  • Homer, in his characters of Vulcan and Thersites, has lapsed into the burlesque character.
  • To fall into error or heresy.
  • * Shakespeare
  • To lapse in fullness / Is sorer than to lie for need.
  • To slip into a bad habit that one is trying to avoid.
  • To become void.
  • To fall or pass from one proprietor to another, or from the original destination, by the omission, negligence, or failure of somebody, such as a patron or legatee.
  • * Ayliffe
  • If the archbishop shall not fill it up within six months ensuing, it lapses to the king.

    Anagrams

    * ----

    abate

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) abaten, from (etyl) . Cognate to modern French abattre .

    Verb

    (abat)
  • (transitive, obsolete, outside, legal) To put an end to; to cause to cease.
  • to abate a nuisance
  • To become null and void.
  • The writ has abated .
  • (legal) To nullify; make void.
  • to abate a writ
  • (obsolete) To humble; to lower in status; to bring someone down physically or mentally.
  • *
  • The hyer that they were in this present lyf, the moore shulle they be abated and defouled in helle.
  • (obsolete) To be humbled; to be brought down physically or mentally.
  • (obsolete) To curtail; to deprive.
  • Order restrictions and prohibitions to abate an emergency situation.
  • * 1605 , , King Lear , II.ii:
  • She hath abated me of half my train.
  • To reduce in amount, size, or value.
  • Legacies are liable to be abated entirely or in proportion, upon a deficiency of assets.
  • *
  • His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated .
  • To decrease in size, value, or amount.
  • To moderate; to lessen in force, intensity, to subside.
  • * 1597 , , [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/575 Essays or Counsels, Civil and Morall] :
  • Not that they feel it so, but only to abate the edge of envy.
  • * 1855 , , History of England from the Accession of James II, Part 3 , [http://books.google.com/books?id=MN5CNdgbSTYC&pg=PA267 page 267]:
  • The fury of Glengarry rapidly abated .
  • To decrease in intensity or force; to subside.
  • * :
  • To deduct or omit.
  • We will abate this price from the total.
  • * 1845 , , The Church History of Britain , Volume 3, [http://books.google.com/books?id=OfefAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA100 page 100]:
  • Allowing nine thousand parishes (abating the odd hundreds) in England and Wales
  • To bar or except.
  • *
  • Abating his brutality, he was a very good master.
  • To cut away or hammer down, in such a way as to leave a figure in relief, as a sculpture, or in metalwork.
  • (obsolete) To dull the edge or point of; to blunt.
  • (archaic) To destroy, or level to the ground.
  • * 1542 , , The Union of the Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre and York :
  • The kynge of Scottes planted his siege before the castell of Norham, and sore abated the walls.
    Synonyms
    * (bring down or reduce) lessen; diminish; contract; moderate; cut short; decrease * (diminish in force or intensity) diminish; subside; decline; wane; ebb * (bring someone down) humble; depress * (come to naught) fall through; fail
    Antonyms
    * augment; accelerate; intensify; rise; revive
    Derived terms
    * abatable * abatement * abater * unabated * abate of

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Abatement.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) abatre, an alteration of enbatre, from (etyl) en + .

    Verb

    (abat)
  • (legal) To enter a tenement without permission after the owner has died and before the heir takes possession.
  • Etymology 4

    From (etyl) abate, from (etyl) .

    Alternative forms

    * abbate

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An Italian abbot, or other member of the clergy.
  • References

    * * ----