lapse into
phrasal verb
lapsed into; lapsing into; lapses into
1
: to begin using or doing (something that should be avoided) for a short period of time
He's a good writer, but he occasionally lapses into jargon.
2
: to begin to be in (a worse or less active state or condition)
The crowd lapsed into silence.
The patient lapsed into a coma.
The society lapsed into decline.
Examples of lapse into in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Perry had high levels of ketamine in his blood, likely lapsed into unconsciousness and then went under water, according to the autopsy.
—
Nadine El-Bawab, ABC News, 26 June 2024
The Honda Pilot was a segment standout for many years before lapsing into the status quo.
—James Raia, The Mercury News, 9 June 2024
Such collections mainly host stars around 10 billion years old—yet magnetars are thought to endure for only 10,000 years or so before lapsing into more sedate neutron stars.
—Adam Mann, Scientific American, 22 Nov. 2021
Unlike all his predecessors going back to Franklin Roosevelt, Trump appears to be an inveterate isolationist who occasionally lapses into martial fantasies about exterminating terrorists.
—Jonathan Kay, Foreign Affairs, 15 Aug. 2017
The former mayor, who was a powerful booster for Los Angeles while in City Hall, at one point lapsed into a familiar riff about where to go to see the future, except this time, India — and not Los Angeles — was the destination in question.
—Julia Wick, Los Angeles Times, 8 May 2024
But—as the frankly silly breadsticks foreshadowed—the pomp of the place never lapses into tedium.
—Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 17 Mar. 2024
Her rock musician husband Max (Tom Payne, Prodigal Son) has an ex-wife who lapsed into addiction and insanity and has been institutionalized after harming one of her children.
—Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Mar. 2024
This distinction is what keeps Rawls’s view from lapsing into inhumanity.
—Elizabeth Barber, Harper's Magazine, 8 Feb. 2024
Nadine El-Bawab, ABC News, 26 June 2024
The Honda Pilot was a segment standout for many years before lapsing into the status quo.
—James Raia, The Mercury News, 9 June 2024
Such collections mainly host stars around 10 billion years old—yet magnetars are thought to endure for only 10,000 years or so before lapsing into more sedate neutron stars.
—Adam Mann, Scientific American, 22 Nov. 2021
Unlike all his predecessors going back to Franklin Roosevelt, Trump appears to be an inveterate isolationist who occasionally lapses into martial fantasies about exterminating terrorists.
—Jonathan Kay, Foreign Affairs, 15 Aug. 2017
The former mayor, who was a powerful booster for Los Angeles while in City Hall, at one point lapsed into a familiar riff about where to go to see the future, except this time, India — and not Los Angeles — was the destination in question.
—Julia Wick, Los Angeles Times, 8 May 2024
But—as the frankly silly breadsticks foreshadowed—the pomp of the place never lapses into tedium.
—Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 17 Mar. 2024
Her rock musician husband Max (Tom Payne, Prodigal Son) has an ex-wife who lapsed into addiction and insanity and has been institutionalized after harming one of her children.
—Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Mar. 2024
This distinction is what keeps Rawls’s view from lapsing into inhumanity.
—Elizabeth Barber, Harper's Magazine, 8 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lapse into.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near lapse into
Cite this Entry
“Lapse into.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lapse%20into. Accessed 4 Jul. 2024.
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