hiatus.

1. A pause or gap in an activity, sequence, or continuity.

2. A natural opening or gap in a body structure.

3. The occurrence of adjacent vowel sounds in separate syllables.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• a brief hiatus
• a hiatus in production
• after a long hiatus

On the page

After a three-year hiatus, the journal resumed publication with a smaller editorial team.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: singular hiatus; plural hiatuses. Writing functions: sequence, explanation, language analysis. Commonness: moderately common in the pause sense. Three distinct meanings kept separate; no Latin plural counted as a new word.