breach

Meaning

Noun

1. A gap or opening made by breaking or battering, as in a wall, fortification or levee / embankment; the space between the parts of a solid body rent by violence.
2. The act of breaking, in a figurative sense.
3. A breaking or infraction of a law, or of any obligation or tie; violation; non-fulfillment.
4. A breaking up of amicable relations, a falling out.
5. (figuratively) A difference in opinions, social class, etc.
6. A breaking of waters, as over a vessel or a coastal defence; the waters themselves.
7. A breaking out upon; an assault.
8. (archaic) A bruise; a wound.
9. (archaic) A hernia; a rupture.

Verb

1. (transitive) To make a breach in.
2. (transitive) To violate or break.
3. (transitive) To break into a ship or into a coastal defence.
4. (intransitive) To suffer a breach.
5. (intransitive) To leap out of the water.
6. (informal, passive, transitive, usually) To charge, convict or take legal action against someone due to not meeting a legal obligation.

Synonyms

gap

break

rupture

violation

crack

hole

🕳️

infringement

rift

opening

fracture

violate

transgression

break through

split

breakthrough

infringe

aperture

transgress

infraction

fissure

breaking

bursting

contravene

cleft

notch

offend

burst

crevasse

contravention

crevice

stave

falling out

shatter

slot

penetrate

offence

puncture

smash

chap

defy

discontinuity

infract

default

foul

separation

severance

go against

snag

crush

contradict

Translations

brecha

breccia

brèche

Bresche

Lücke

Bruch

violation

Verstoß

bretxa

brecha

infraction

Spalt

αθέτηση

briser

Durchbruch

Pronounced as (IPA)

/bɹiːtʃ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: breche

Inherited from Old English: bryċe

In summary

From Middle English breche, from Old English bryċe (“fracture, breach”) and brǣċ (“breach, breaking, destruction”), from Proto-West Germanic *bruki, from Proto-Germanic *brukiz (“breach, fissure”) and *brēkō (“breaking”).