violation

[vahy-uh-ley-shuhn]

noun

1. the act of violating.

2. the state of being violated.

3. a breach, infringement, or transgression, as of a law, rule, promise, etc..

   He was fined for a traffic violation.

4. desecration; profanation.

   the violation of a cemetery.

5. sexual molestation, especially rape.

6. a distortion of meaning or fact.

Other Word Forms

• violational adjective
• nonviolation noun
• previolation noun
• reviolation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of violation¹

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin violātiōn- (stem of violātiō ), equivalent to violāt ( us ) ( violate ) + -iōn- -ion

Synonym Study

See breach.

Example Sentences

Yet nearly two dozen of those cases were later reopened after Smith and a small team of officers found that the department’s review missed a litany of policy violations, his lawsuit says.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

But violations are proliferating, such as camping without permits and climbing on restricted routes.

Read more on Barron's

The school earlier this season had six transfer students declared ineligible for providing false information on paperwork to the Southern Section, a violation of CIF bylaw 202.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“It’s a crisis for a unit when its head is suspected of such serious violations of the law,” he said, adding that the episode shouldn’t “contaminate and taint the entire unit.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

A misunderstanding or violation of the terms can wind up harming a person’s credit.

Read more on MarketWatch

Related Words

• abuse 
• contravention 
• encroachment 
• infraction 
• infringement 
• misdemeanor 
• negligence 
• offense 
• transgression