the.com/lapse
The moment virtue takes a smoke break and forgets to come back.
means A small failure to keep something up — a slip in attention, behavior, or a contract going quietly out of force.
from From Latin 'lapsus,' meaning a slipping or falling, from the verb 'labi,' to slide or glide. The same root gives us 'collapse' (to slide down completely) and 'elapse' (time sliding past). A lapse was always imagined as a fall — not a dramatic tumble, but a foot sliding gently out from under you.
- insurance meaning
- coverage dies quietly when you stop paying
- legal meaning
- a right expires from pure neglect, not villainy
- root word
- from latin labi, meaning to slide
- moral usage
- implies a brief fall, not a permanent character flaw