GAP (gapped, gapping)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: gapped    , gapping   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does gap mean? 

• GAP (noun)
  The noun GAP has 6 senses:

1. a conspicuous disparity or difference as between two figures

2. an open or empty space in or between things

3. a narrow opening

4. a pass between mountain peaks

5. a difference (especially an unfortunate difference) between two opinions or two views or two situations

6. an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity

  Familiarity information: GAP used as a noun is common.

• GAP (verb)
  The verb GAP has 1 sense:

1. make an opening or gap in

  Familiarity information: GAP used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GAP (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A conspicuous disparity or difference as between two figures

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

gap; spread

Context example:

the spread between lending and borrowing costs

Hypernyms ("gap" is a kind of...):

disparity (inequality or difference in some respect)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An open or empty space in or between things

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

gap; opening

Context example:

the explosion made a gap in the wall

Hypernyms ("gap" is a kind of...):

space (an empty area (usually bounded in some way between things))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gap"):

window (an opening that resembles a window in appearance or function)

rent; rip; snag; split; tear (an opening made forcibly as by pulling apart)

rift (a gap between cloud masses)

mouth (an opening that resembles a mouth (as of a cave or a gorge))

hole (an opening into or through something)

cleft; crack; crevice; fissure; scissure (a long narrow opening)

chasm (a deep opening in the earth's surface)

breach (an opening (especially a gap in a dike or fortification))

foramen; hiatus (a natural opening or perforation through a bone or a membranous structure)

nodes of Ranvier; Ranvier's nodes (small gaps in the myelin sheath of medullated axons)

diastema (a gap or vacant space between two teeth)

pocket (an opening at the corner or on the side of a billiard table into which billiard balls are struck)

Holonyms ("gap" is a part of...):

Earth's surface; surface (the outermost level of the land or sea)

Derivation:

gap (make an opening or gap in)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A narrow opening

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

crack; gap

Context example:

he opened the window a crack

Hypernyms ("gap" is a kind of...):

opening (a vacant or unobstructed space that is man-made)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gap"):

blank; lacuna (a blank gap or missing part)

spark gap (the gap between two high-potential terminals)

Derivation:

gap (make an opening or gap in)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A pass between mountain peaks

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

col; gap

Hypernyms ("gap" is a kind of...):

mountain pass; notch; pass (the location in a range of mountains of a geological formation that is lower than the surrounding peaks)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gap"):

water gap (a pass in a mountain ridge through which a stream flows)

wind gap (a pass in a mountain ridge with no stream flowing through it)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A difference (especially an unfortunate difference) between two opinions or two views or two situations

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("gap" is a kind of...):

conflict; difference; difference of opinion; dispute (a disagreement or argument about something important)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gap"):

generation gap (a difference between the views of young people and their parents)

Sense 6

Meaning:

An act of delaying or interrupting the continuity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

break; disruption; gap; interruption

Context example:

there was a gap in his account

Hypernyms ("gap" is a kind of...):

delay; holdup (the act of delaying; inactivity resulting in something being put off until a later time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gap"):

cut-in; insert ((broadcasting) a local announcement inserted into a network program)

interjection; interpellation; interpolation; interposition (the action of interjecting or interposing an action or remark that interrupts)

abruption; breaking off (an instance of sudden interruption)

barracking; heckling (shouting to interrupt a speech with which you disagree)

cut-in; insert ((film) a still picture that is introduced and that interrupts the action of a film)

• GAP (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they gap    ... he / she / it gaps   
Past simple: gapped   
Past participle: gapped   
-ing form: gapping   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make an opening or gap in

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

breach; gap

Hypernyms (to "gap" is one way to...):

open; open up (cause to open or to become open)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

gap (a narrow opening)

gap (an open or empty space in or between things)

 Context examples 

When they silenced SPINK7, the gene that codes for SPINK7, in cells derived from esophageal tissues, the research team discovered that large gaps formed between the cells lining the esophagus.

(Eosinophilic esophagitis may be due to missing protein, National Institutes of Health)

With that encounter, Cassini will begin its Grand Finale, leaping over the rings and making the first of 22 plunges through the 1,500-mile-wide (2,400-kilometer) gap between Saturn and its innermost ring on April 26.

(Over Saturn's Turbulent North, NASA)

"There's enough nitrogen in rocks, and it breaks down fast enough, to explain the cases where there has been this mysterious gap."

(New source of global nitrogen discovered: Earth’s bedrock, National Science Foundation)

A stretch of telomeric DNA where the normally guanine-rich (TTAGGG)n overhanging sequence has gaps while the cytosine-rich (AATCCC)n opposite strand remains intact.

(C-Circle, NCI Thesaurus)

The gap between the rings and the top of Saturn's atmosphere is about 1,500 miles (2,000 kilometers) wide.

(Cassini Spacecraft Dives Between Saturn and Its Rings, NASA)

Sporadic changes in the wind strength or the rate the companion star strips the main star's hydrogen envelope might also explain the clumpy structure and gaps seen farther out in the disk.

(Hubble Observes One-of-a-Kind Star Nicknamed 'Nasty', NASA)

As for himself, from moment to moment the conversation showed him gaps and open stretches, whole subjects with which he was unfamiliar.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Over longer periods, these stressful conditions may result in an increase in numbers of females compared with males — more females likely means more seeds and more seedlings to fill the gap.

(Striped maple trees often change mating types, with females more likely to die, National Science Foundation)

These inner gaps have been known about for decades and it has been speculated that they were produced by disc-planet interaction.

(First Confirmed Image of Newborn Planet, ESO)

They may also regulate tight and gap junctions.

(Cadherin Domain, NCI Thesaurus)