Lacuna

A lacuna (pronounced ləˈkjuːnə) is a gap or missing part, especially in a manuscript, series, or text. It represents an absence or emptiness, signifying something lost, forgotten, or deliberately omitted. This void can pertain to tangible things, like a missing piece of evidence, or abstract concepts, such as an unexplained period in history. The term emphasizes incompleteness and the resulting challenges in fully understanding or interpreting the subject matter. It highlights the limitations of available information and the potential for speculative reasoning to fill these voids.

Lacuna meaning with examples

• Historical records contained a significant lacuna concerning the details of the king's reign, particularly the years between his coronation and the first military campaign. Historians had to speculate on the cause, with one theory being a deliberate erasure, the other a simple omission caused by missing records.
• The archeological dig revealed a lacuna in the mosaic, where several crucial tiles were missing. Researchers could only estimate the missing figures and patterns. The absence made it hard to discern the entire narrative the mosaic was supposed to convey.
• A lengthy lacuna existed in the scientific research on the development of the vaccine, causing a pause in research for years. Funding had been diverted away from the topic, which slowed the progress of this important medical breakthrough.
• There is a lacuna in the available literary criticism of the author's work that hinders a complete grasp of the subtle symbolism used in his writing, especially those of the early works that were quickly discontinued.