/haɪˈeɪtəs/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [hahy-ey-tuhs]
–noun, plural -tus⋅es, -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.
1555–65; < L hiātus opening, gap, equiv. to hiā(re) to gape, open + -tus suffix of v. action