gap

Meaning

Noun

1. An opening in anything made by breaking or parting.
2. An opening allowing passage or entrance.
3. An opening that implies a breach or defect.
4. A vacant space or time.
5. A hiatus, a pause in something which is otherwise continuous.
6. A vacancy, deficit, absence, or lack.
7. A mountain or hill pass.
8. A sheltered area of coast between two cliffs (mostly restricted to place names).
9. The regions between the outfielders.
10. (Australia) The shortfall between the amount the medical insurer will pay to the service provider and the scheduled fee for the item.
11. (Australia, literary, usually) The disparity between the indigenous and non-indigenous communities with regard to life expectancy, education, health, etc.
12. An unsequenced region in a sequence alignment.
13. (euphemistic, slang) The vagina.

Verb

1. (transitive) To notch, as a sword or knife.
2. (transitive) To make an opening in; to breach.
3. (transitive) To check the size of a gap.
4. (especially, intransitive, slang, transitive) To surpass (someone or something) by a considerable margin.
5. (New-Zealand, slang) To leave suddenly.
6. (intransitive) To fall or spill open so as to leave a gap.

Verb

To stare or gape.

Synonyms

space

interval

opening

hole

🕳️

breach

crack

break

fissure

distance

crevice

chasm

chink

rift

blank

gorge

slot

cleft

aperture

ravine

interstice

notch

difference

defect

deficiency

flaw

lacuna

shortcoming

hiatus

gulf

shortage

spacing

lack

absence

interruption

abyss

orifice

disparity

spread

want

clearance

air gap

cavity

deficit

rent

fracture

precipice

rupture

mouth

interspace

col

Translations

Lücke

Spalt

brèche

Kluft

fossé

fenda

brecha

brecha

trou

🕳️

espace

κενό

Spalte

Riss

άνοιγμα

Bresche

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɡæp/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: gap

Cognate with Danish: gab

Cognate with Old English: ġeap

In summary

From Middle English gap, gappe, from Old Norse gap (“an empty space, gap, chasm”), from gapa (“to gape, scream”), from Proto-Germanic *gapōną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂- (“to open wide, gape”). Related to Danish gab (“an expanse, space, gap”), Old English ġeap (“open space, expanse”); compare English gape.