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Lapse vs Forfeit - What's the difference?

lapse | forfeit |

As nouns the difference between lapse and forfeit

is that lapse is a temporary failure; a slip while forfeit is a penalty for or consequence of a misdemeanor.

As verbs the difference between lapse and forfeit

is that lapse is to fall away gradually; to subside while forfeit is to suffer the loss of something by wrongdoing or non-compliance.

As an adjective forfeit is

lost or alienated for an offense or crime; liable to penal seizure.

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

    Related terms

    * lapsarian

    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

    * ----

    forfeit

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A penalty for or consequence of a misdemeanor.
    • That he our deadly forfeit should release'' (John Milton, ''On the Morning of Christ's Nativity , 1629)
  • A thing forfeited; that which is taken from somebody in requital of a misdeed committed; that which is lost, or the right to which is alienated, by a crime, breach of contract, etc.
    • He who murders pays the forfeit of his own life.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Thy slanders I forgive; and therewithal / Remit thy other forfeits .
  • Something deposited and redeemable by a sportive fine as part of a game.
  • * Goldsmith
    • Country dances and forfeits shortened the rest of the day.
  • (obsolete, rare) Injury; wrong; mischief.
  • * Ld. Berners
    • to seek arms upon people and country that never did us any forfeit

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To suffer the loss of something by wrongdoing or non-compliance
    • He forfeited his last chance of an early release from jail by repeatedly attacking another inmate.
  • To lose a contest, game, match, or other form of competition by voluntary withdrawal, by failing to attend or participate, or by violation of the rules
    • Because only nine players were present, the football team was forced to forfeit the game.
  • To be guilty of a misdeed; to be criminal; to transgress.
  • To fail to keep an obligation.
  • * Shakespeare
    • I will have the heart of him if he forfeit .

    Usage notes

    * Very rarely, forfeit is used as the past tense form and past participle (i.e., the past tense forms and the present tense form are homographs).

    Synonyms

    * (lose a contest) capitulate, surrender * (voluntarily give up) forgo, withgo

    Derived terms

    * forfeits * nonforfeited * nonforfeiting * nonforfeiture

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Lost or alienated for an offense or crime; liable to penal seizure.
  • * Shakespeare
    • thy wealth being forfeit to the state
  • * Emerson
    • to tread the forfeit paradise
    English irregular verbs English verbs with base form identical to past participle English words not following the I before E except after C rule