lacuna

/ləˈkunə/

/ləˈkunə/

Other forms: lacunae; lacunas

A lacuna is a gap or missing part. If you complain that there's a major lacuna in the bake sale, the lack of brownies is probably to blame.

The noun lacuna means an empty space or a hole where something should be. It's used a lot to talk about missing parts of books or manuscripts, either because lost pages have created a lacuna, or because censors have blacked out or removed parts of them. In the study of anatomy, a lacuna is a hollowed-out place or a cavity within a bone. In Latin, lacuna means "pit or hole," and its plural is lacunae.

Definitions of lacuna

1. noun

   a blank gap or missing part
   synonyms: blank

   type of:

   crack, gap

   a narrow opening
2. noun

   an ornamental sunken panel in a ceiling or dome
   synonyms: caisson, coffer

   type of:

   panel

   sheet that forms a distinct (usually flat and rectangular) section or component of something