A lapse is a short period of failure, such as forgetting something, losing concentration, or not following rules; it can also mean the passing of time.
From Latin *lapsus*, meaning a slip or fall, from *labi*, to slide. English kept both the idea of a moral or mental “slip” and a gentle sense of something sliding away over time.
When you talk about a “lapse in judgment,” you’re literally calling it a small mental slip or fall. The same root hides in *collapse* and *elapse*, all built around the image of sliding downward or away.
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