Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Interregnum

Interregnum , noun

[Latin, from inter between + regnum dominion, reign. See Reign, and compare Interreign.]

1.
The time during which a throne is vacant between the death or abdication of a sovereign and the accession of his successor.
2.
Any period during which, for any cause, the executive branch of a government is suspended or interrupted.