interregna

Noun

interregnum (plural interregnums or interregna)

1. A period of time between the end of one monarch's reign and the accession of their successor.
   • The Sasanian Interregnum of 628–632
2. (broadly, figuratively) A break in continuity; a gap, an intermission.
   • Is it not Pelham who wonders what becomes of servants when they are not wanted;—whether, like the tones of an instrument, they exist but when called for? About servants we will not decide; but that some such interregnum certainly occurs in female existence on rising from table, no one can doubt who...1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 224

   Synonyms:

   hiatus, interval, moratorium, pause, recess, break, breather, cessation, demurral, gap

3. (broadly) A period of time between when a minister or pastor leaves a church and when a new one is installed.
4. (broadly) A period of time between the end of one political leader's term and the start of the term of their successor; a period of time during which normal executive leadership is interrupted or suspended, and a polity is either left without leadership or has only a temporary one.
   • Darker questions still emerge in these dusky final weeks of our interregnum.2025 January 10, Peter Thiel, “A time for truth and reconciliation”, in Financial Times
5. (obsolete) A temporary exercise of authority or rule during a period of time when there is no monarch or political leader.