interregnum

noun5

1. •
   A period of time between the end of one monarch's reign and the accession of their successor.
2. •
   A period of time between when a minister or pastor leaves a church and when a new one is installed.
3. •
   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
4. •
   (figurative) A break in continuity; a gap, an intermission.

   • Between the end of the Fowler régime in 1931 and the advent of Stanier in 1932, there was a short interregnum during which Ernest Lemon was in charge, with Ernest Beames as his principal aide-de-camp. — 1946
5. •
   (no longer used) A temporary exercise of authority or rule during a period of time when there is no monarch or political leader.