Lacuna
noun /ləˈkjuːnə/ — A gap — a missing piece in a text, record, or understanding.
Definition
A gap or missing portion, especially in a manuscript, record, or account; an unfilled space; a blank.
Beyond the definition
Every map has its lacunae — the spaces labelled 'terra incognita' or left deliberately blank. A lacuna isn't just an absence; it's an absence in a record that should be complete. In memory, in history, in text: the lacuna marks what we know we're missing, which makes it different from ignorance. You can only name a lacuna if you know something should be there.
Origin & history
From Latin lacuna 'pit, hole, pool', related to lacus 'lake'. In classical scholarship, it refers to gaps in ancient manuscripts where text has been lost.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
There was a significant lacuna in his memory of that week — not blankness, but a shaped absence.
The historian noted the lacunae in the record: who destroyed those letters, and why?
Every map of that territory contained lacunae — places the cartographers couldn't or wouldn't name.
How to use it
This entry uses a noun. Follow the examples for articles and singular or plural forms; not every noun takes “a” or “an.”
Choose “Lacuna” when the meaning fits your context: A gap or missing portion, especially in a manuscript, record, or account; an unfilled space; a blank.
Synonyms
gap, blank, void, omission, hiatus
Antonyms
completeness, continuity, fullness
Related words
Word in the Wild
Illustrative story: an imagined scene, not a documented event or interview.
He had been translating the letters for three years when he found the gap — six months missing from a correspondence that had otherwise survived intact for two centuries.
He searched archives in three countries. Nothing. The letters from those months were gone — lost, possibly destroyed, possibly never written.
"The interesting thing," he told his colleagues, "is that you can sometimes read a lacuna. The letters before and after know something happened. The silence speaks." He published a paper on what the absence contained. It was the best thing he'd written.
Questions about this word
What does "Lacuna" mean?
Lacuna is noun meaning: A gap — a missing piece in a text, record, or understanding.. A gap or missing portion, especially in a manuscript, record, or account; an unfilled space; a blank.
Where does the word "Lacuna" come from?
From Latin lacuna 'pit, hole, pool', related to lacus 'lake'. In classical scholarship, it refers to gaps in ancient manuscripts where text has been lost.