INTERMISSION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does intermission mean? 

• INTERMISSION (noun)
  The noun INTERMISSION has 2 senses:

1. the act of suspending activity temporarily

2. a time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something

  Familiarity information: INTERMISSION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INTERMISSION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of suspending activity temporarily

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

pause (temporary inactivity)

Derivation:

intermit (cease an action temporarily)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Synonyms:

break; intermission; interruption; pause; suspension

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

interval; time interval (a definite length of time marked off by two instants)

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

lapse (a break or intermission in the occurrence of something)

blackout (a suspension of radio or tv broadcasting)

caesura (a pause or interruption (as in a conversation))

dead air (an inadvertent interruption in a broadcast during which there is no sound)

delay; hold; postponement; time lag; wait (time during which some action is awaited)

halftime (an intermission between the first and second half of a game)

relief; respite; rest; rest period (a pause for relaxation)

time-out (a brief suspension of play)

letup; lull (a pause during which things are calm or activities are diminished)

 Context examples 

But they were entirely ignorant of what had passed; and their raptures continued, with little intermission, to the very day of Lydia's leaving home.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

She must allow him to be still frequently coming to look; any thing less would certainly have been too little in a lover; and he was ready at the smallest intermission of the pencil, to jump up and see the progress, and be charmed.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

At the coach window, as at the dinner-party, he hovered about us without a moment's intermission, like a great vulture: gorging himself on every syllable that I said to Agnes, or Agnes said to me.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

She still screamed and sobbed lustily, kicked her two brothers for offering to touch her, and all their united soothings were ineffectual till Lady Middleton luckily remembering that in a scene of similar distress last week, some apricot marmalade had been successfully applied for a bruised temple, the same remedy was eagerly proposed for this unfortunate scratch, and a slight intermission of screams in the young lady on hearing it, gave them reason to hope that it would not be rejected.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

On the second morning, about eleven o’clock, the king himself in person, attended by his nobility, courtiers, and officers, having prepared all their musical instruments, played on them for three hours without intermission, so that I was quite stunned with the noise; neither could I possibly guess the meaning, till my tutor informed me.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Her dejection had no abatement from anything passing around her; a friend or two of her father's, as always happened if he was not with them, spent the long, long evening there; and from six o'clock till half-past nine, there was little intermission of noise or grog.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The rain continued the whole evening without intermission; Jane certainly could not come back.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

She wondered, with little intermission what could be the reason of it; was sure there must be some bad news, and thought over every kind of distress that could have befallen him, with a fixed determination that he should not escape them all.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

They have a notion, that when people are met together, a short silence does much improve conversation: this I found to be true; for during those little intermissions of talk, new ideas would arise in their minds, which very much enlivened the discourse.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

When the ladies returned to the drawing-room, there was little to be done but to hear Lady Catherine talk, which she did without any intermission till coffee came in, delivering her opinion on every subject in so decisive a manner, as proved that she was not used to have her judgement controverted.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)