hiatus Definition

hiatus
noun hiatus, hiatuses

1. An opening or gap; a break in something which should be continuous.

Thesaurus: aperture, breach, break, rift, chasm, gap, discontinuance, interruption, interval, lacuna, lapse, blank, void.
2. grammar.
The use of two consecutive vowels in adjacent syllables without any intervening consonant.

Etymology: 16c: Latin, from hiare to gape.