interregnum — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A period of time between the end of one monarch's reign and the accession of their successor.

   Examples

   The Sasanian Interregnum of 628–632

   More examples (1)

   It was not till the kings had been shorn of power and the interregnum of sham democracy had set in, leaving no virile force in the state or the world to resist the money power, that the opportunity for a world-wide plutocratic despotism arrived.

2. A break in continuity; a gap, an intermission.

   Usage

   • broadly
   • Figurative

   Synonyms

   hiatusintervalmoratoriumpauserecess

   Examples

   More examples (4)

   Is it not Pelham who wonders what becomes of servants when they are not wanted;—whether, like the tones of an instrument, they exist but when called for? About servants we will not decide; but that some such interregnum certainly occurs in female existence on rising from table, no one can doubt who ever noted the sound of the dining and the silence of the drawing-room.

   This was in that strange pause of the storm which is its most remarkable feature in the South—that singular interregnum of the winds, when, after giving repeated notice of their most terrific action, they seem almost to forget their purpose, and for a few moments appear to slumber in their inactivity.

   Between the end of the Fowler régime in 1931 and the advent of Stanier in 1932, there was a short interregnum during which Ernest Lemon was in charge, with Ernest Beames as his principal aide-de-camp.

   All I know is that you could, if you wanted to, find the answers to all sorts of difficult questions buried in that terrible war-torn interregnum between the first pubic hair and the first soiled Durex.

   Another element leading to the quick-out-of-the-gate second Trump term took place during the four-year interregnum of President Joe Biden.

3. A period of time between when a minister or pastor leaves a church and when a new one is installed.

   Usage

   • broadly

4. 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.

   Usage

   • broadly

   Examples

   Darker questions still emerge in these dusky final weeks of our interregnum.

5. A temporary exercise of authority or rule during a period of time when there is no monarch or political leader.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

Noun

1. the time between two reigns, governments, etc.

   Broader terms

   interimmeantimemeanwhilelag