interregnum
Meanings
noun
- A period of time between the end of one monarch's reign and the accession of their successor.
- A break in continuity; a gap, an intermission.
- A period of time between when a minister or pastor leaves a church and when a new one is installed.
- A period of time between the end of one political leader's term and the start of the term of their successor; a period of time during which normal executive leadership is interrupted or suspended, and a polity is either left without leadership or has only a temporary one.
- A temporary exercise of authority or rule during a period of time when there is no monarch or political leader.
name
- Ellipsis of British Interregnum, the period of 1649–1660 when an unmonarchical state ruled Britain; the monarchy was then restored.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin interrēgnum, from inter- (prefix meaning ‘between’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér (“between”)) + rēgnum (“reign; royal power”) (nominalized from the neuter of *rēgnus, from rēx (“king; ruler”, oblique stem rēg-) + -nus (suffix forming adjectives), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to righten; to straighten”)). The plural form interregna is a learned borrowing from Latin interrēgna.
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