interregnum
noun
- period of discontinuity, such as the period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ɪntəˈɹɛɡnəm/ / /ˌɪntəɹˈɹɛɡnəm/ / /ɪntəˈɹɛɡnə/
name
Etymology: Proprialization from interregnum.
- Ellipsis of British Interregnum, the period of 1649–1660 when an unmonarchical state ruled Britain; the monarchy was then restored.
“Meronyms: Commonwealth; Commonwealth of England; Protectorate; Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland”
noun
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.
- A period of time between the end of one monarch's reign and the accession of their successor.
“The Sasanian Interregnum of 628–632”
“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.”
- A break in continuity; a gap, an intermission.
“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.”
- 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.
“Darker questions still emerge in these dusky final weeks of our interregnum.”
- A temporary exercise of authority or rule during a period of time when there is no monarch or political leader.