hiatus

1. (geology) A gap in geological strata.Examples: "The beginning of the Mesozoic Era on the Colorado Plateau is marked by a regional hiatus or break of sedimentary deposition that lasted about 25 to 30 Ma."countableuncountable

2. (anatomy) An opening in an organ.Examples: "Hiatus aorticus is an opening in the diaphragm through which aorta and thoracic duct pass."countableuncountable

3. (prosody, phonetics, sometimes uncountable) A syllable break between two vowels, without an intervening consonant.Examples: "A hiatus is agreeable to any Polynesian ear; the ear even of the stranger soon grows used to these barbaric voids; but only in the Marquesan will you find such names as Haaii and Paaaeua, when each individual vowel must be separately uttered."sometimesuncountable