- 1不再信了的、離教的；天主教徒常說「冷淡教友」
If someone is lapsed, they used to hold a belief — very often a religion — and they do not hold it in the same living way now. A lapsed Catholic grew up in the Church, or once , and has drifted away. They may still tick “Catholic” on a form; they may not. The word is a little formal, and a little kind: it does not shout that the person quit; it says the old tie has slipped. People also use lapsed for something that used to be in force and no longer is — a lapsed membership, a lapsed insurance policy — the same picture of a thing that was in place and then fell away. About people, though, the religious sense is the one you will meet first. It is not the same as “lost,” as if faith were a set of keys. The belief has , or been let go.
組成From lapse (a slip, a falling away) + -ed.
原始詞典資料5 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
lapsedadj/læpst/
- 1
Discontinued; having ceased or gone out of use.
- The royal charities on Maunday Thursday, are really a portion of an otherwise lapsed custom, which recalled the action of our Lord on the day before His Crucifixion.
- 2
Changed to a less valued condition or state; especially having lost one's religious faith.
- ...satisfy the Doubtful, confirm the Wavering, recover the Lapsed, and be useful to all according to their several Circumstances and Conditions.
- One of them is a lapsed Catholic; the other is in no doubt of what to do, as he has suffered much on account of his adherence to Christianity.
- 3
By extension, having changed a (secular) belief or adherence.
- My mother knew that I was a lapsed Republican, but did not dream of the depth to which I had fallen.
- 4
archaicHaving passed from the original holder or authority; no longer claimed.
- The only legitimate claimants must be, Albert of Austria, son of the sister of the last duke John; and the emperor Sigsmund, who might consider this part of Bavaria as a lapsed fief: that in this quality he had given the investiture of it to his son-in-law
這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。