hi·a·tus

 [hahy-ey-tuhs] 

noun, plural hi·a·tus·es, hi·a·tus.

1. a break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action, etc.

2. a missing part; gap or lacuna: Scholars attempted to account for the hiatus in the medieval manuscript.

3. any gap or opening.

4. Grammar, Prosody . the coming together, with or without break or slight pause, and without contraction, of two vowels in successive words or syllables, as in see easily.

5. Anatomy . a natural fissure, cleft, or foramen in a bone or other structure.