overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

gap.

An opening in anything, made by breaking or parting.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɡæp/Australia, Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡap/Received-Pronunciation, Scotland/ɡɛp/New-Zealand
  1. An opening in anything, made by breaking or parting.

    He made a gap in the fence by kicking at a weak spot.
  2. An opening allowing passage or entrance.

    We can slip through that gap between the buildings.
  3. An opening that implies a breach or defect.

    There is a gap between the roof and the gutter.
  4. A vacant space or time.

    I have a gap in my schedule next Tuesday.
  5. A hiatus, a pause in something which is otherwise continuous.

    I'm taking a gap.
    You must wait for a gap in the traffic before crossing the road.
  6. A vacancy, deficit, absence, or lack.

    Their departure has left a gap in the workforce.
    Find words to fill the gaps in an incomplete sentence.
  7. A mountain or hill pass.

    The exploring party went through the high gap in the mountains.
  8. A sheltered area of coast between two cliffs (mostly restricted to place names).

    At Birling Gap we can stop and go have a picnic on the beach.
  9. The regions between the outfielders.

    Jones doubled through the gap.
  10. The shortfall between the amount the medical insurer will pay to the service provider and the scheduled fee for the item.

    Australia
  11. The disparity between the indigenous and non-indigenous communities with regard to life expectancy, education, health, etc.

    Australia · literary · usually
  12. An unsequenced region in a sequence alignment.

  13. The vagina.

    euphemistic · slang
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English gap /gappe, from Old Norse gap (“an empty space, gap, chasm”), from gapa (“to gape, scream”), from Proto-Germanic *gapōną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂- (“to open wide, gape”). Related to Danish gab (“an expanse, space, gap”), Old English ġeap (“open space, expanse”). Doublet of gape.

verb/ɡæp/Australia, Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡap/Received-Pronunciation, Scotland/ɡɛp/New-Zealand
  1. To notch, as a sword or knife.

    transitive
  2. To make an opening in; to breach.

    transitive
  3. To check the size of a gap.

    transitive
    I gapped all the spark plugs in my car, but then realized I had used the wrong manual and had made them too small.
  4. To surpass (someone or something) by a considerable margin.

    especially · intransitive · slang · transitive
  5. To leave suddenly.

    New-Zealand · slang
  6. To fall or spill open so as to leave a gap.

    intransitive
  7. Of an electric train, to be positioned, or to cause to be positioned, between electrical pickup points, causing loss of power.

    intransitive · transitive
    The lights flickered as the train momentarily gapped.
    The train was gapped just outside the station, and passengers were stranded for nearly two hours.
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English gap /gappe, from Old Norse gap (“an empty space, gap, chasm”), from gapa (“to gape, scream”), from Proto-Germanic *gapōną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂- (“to open wide, gape”). Related to Danish gab (“an expanse, space, gap”), Old English ġeap (“open space, expanse”). Doublet of gape.

verb/ɡæp/Australia, Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡap/Received-Pronunciation, Scotland/ɡɛp/New-Zealand
  1. To stare or gape.

    US · dated · intransitive · slang · transitive
Where this word comes from

A variant of gape.

noun/ɡæp/Australia, Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡap/Received-Pronunciation, Scotland/ɡɛp/New-Zealand
  1. Alternative form of gup (“elected head of a gewog in Bhutan”).

    alt-of · alternative
Where this word comes from

From gup.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

gap has 3 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

gap studiogap workshello, gap

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.