Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 18, 2026 is:
 
 
 
 
 hiatus &#149; \hye-AY-tus\&nbsp; &#149; noun
 In general contexts, hiatus usually refers to a period of time when something, such as an activity or program, is suspended. In biology, hiatus describes a gap or passage in an anatomical part or organ, and in linguistics, it refers to the occurrence of two vowel sounds without pause or intervening <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/consonantal">consonantal</a> sound.

// The actor, who’s been on hiatus for several years, will be starring in a new film.

<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hiatus">See the entry ></a>
 
 
 
 Examples:
 “Following its return in 2025 after a nearly three-year hiatus, the 52nd American Music Awards are heading back to Las Vegas to be broadcast live from a new venue, the MGM Grand Garden Arena.” — Steven J. Horowitz, Variety, 10 Mar. 2026
 
 
 
 Did you know?
 This brief hiatus in your day is brought to you by, well, hiatus. While the word now most often refers to a temporary pause, hiatus originally referred to a physical opening in something, such as the mouth of a cave, or, as the 18th century British novelist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Laurence-Sterne">Laurence Sterne</a> would have it, a sartorial gap: in the wildly experimental novel Tristram Shandy, Sterne wrote of “the hiatus in Phutatorius’s breeches.” Hiatus comes from the Latin verb hiare, meaning “to yawn,” which makes it a distant relation of both <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yawn">yawn</a> and <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chasm">chasm</a>. And that’s all we have for now—you may resume your regular activities.

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