Welcome to another day of vocabulary building!

A hiatus is a pause or break in something that is otherwise ongoing. For example, a newspaper editor might write a column each week for publication, but when the editor is away on holiday, the column goes on hiatus – that is, there is a gap in the regularly-scheduled publishing. You could say that both the editor and the column are on vacation. “Hiatus” is both singular and plural, though it’s also correct to say “hiatuses.” However, since the term is most frequently used when talking about one instance in time, you generally won’t be faced with the problem of which form to use.

Example: “The offices are closed while the department is on hiatus.”