breach
Americannoun
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breaches
plural
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the act or a result of breaking; a break or rupture.
Many districts were flooded by the river after a breach in an embankment upstream.
- Synonyms:
- fracture
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an infraction or violation, such as of a law, contract, trust, or promise.
If there is a breach of the warranty, we are not liable for damage.
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a gap made in a wall, fortification, line of soldiers, etc.; rift; fissure.
A breach in the castle walls gave the enemy an entrance.
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Digital Technology. the unauthorized acquisition, use, or disclosure of customers' or users' personal data.
There's no indication of a data breach affecting credit card information.
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a severance of friendly relations.
- Synonyms:
- dissension, separation, schism, rift, split, alienation
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the leap of a whale above the surface of the water.
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Archaic. the breaking of waves; the dashing of surf.
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Obsolete. wound.
verb (used with object)
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breaches,
present (3rd person singular)
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breached,
past participle, past
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breaching
present participle
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to make a rupture or opening in.
We need new ways to recover salmon without breaching the dams.
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to break or act contrary to (a law, promise, etc.).
The plaintiff alleges that the defendant has breached the terms of their license.
verb (used without object)
-
breaches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
breached,
past participle, past
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breaching
present participle
idioms
noun
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a crack, break, or rupture
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a breaking, infringement, or violation of a promise, obligation, etc
-
any severance or separation
there was a breach between the two factions of the party
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a gap in an enemy's fortifications or line of defence created by bombardment or attack
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the act of a whale in breaking clear of the water
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the breaking of sea waves on a shore or rock
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an obsolete word for wound 1
verb
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(tr) to break through or make an opening, hole, or incursion in
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(tr) to break a promise, law, etc
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(intr) (of a whale) to break clear of the water
Usage
What does breach mean? A breach is a physical break or rupture, as in the hull of a ship. It also means a violation or infraction, as in a breach of trust. It can also be used as a verb referring to the action that leads to each of these things. Breach is often used in phrases like security breach, data breach, breach of trust, breach of etiquette, and breach of contract. Example: We view these ethical violations as an unforgivable breach of the public trust, and we call on the senator to resign.
Synonym Usage
Breach, infraction, violation, transgression all denote in some way the breaking of a rule or law or the upsetting of a normal and desired state. Breach is used infrequently in reference to laws or rules, more often in connection with desirable conditions or states of affairs: a breach of the peace, of good manners, of courtesy. Infraction most often refers to clearly formulated rules or laws: an infraction of the criminal code, of university regulations, of a labor contract. Violation, a stronger term than either of the preceding two, often suggests intentional, even forceful or aggressive, refusal to obey the law or to respect the rights of others: repeated violations of parking regulations; a human rights violation. Transgression, with its root sense of “a stepping across (of a boundary of some sort),” applies to any behavior that exceeds the limits imposed by a law, especially a moral law, a commandment, or an order; it often implies sinful behavior: a serious transgression of social customs, of God's commandments.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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breachsimple
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breachessimple
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have breachedperfect
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has breachedperfect
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am breachingprogressive
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are breachingprogressive
-
is breachingprogressive
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have been breachingperfect progressive
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has been breachingperfect progressive
Past
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breachedsimple
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had breachedperfect
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was breachingprogressive
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were breachingprogressive
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had been breachingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of breach
First recorded before 1000; Middle English breche, Old English bræc “breaking”; see break ( def. )
Explanation
A breach is a violation of a law, duty, or promise. If you'd contracted to mow your neighbor's lawn and don't do it, he can sue you for breach of contract. Or he can mow the lawn himself. Breach traces back to the Old English verb: brecan, "to break," which is what breach really means — "a breaking of something." Breach of contract is a legal way of saying you broke a promise. If your great aunt Edna is a stickler for propriety, she may be horrified when you eat your meat with the salad fork, considering it a breach of good manners.
Vocabulary lists containing breach
100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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"The Odyssey," Vocabulary from Part 1 of the epic poem
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The U.S. national debt is expected to soon breach $40 trillion for the first time.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
Brittan said she had previously been offered compensation for another data breach by the Met, after they disclosed sensitive information about her first police interview by mistake to two people in Australia.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
In its report, Fitch said further delay “leaves the project in a precarious position with a limited margin of safety before it could breach the lenders’ longstop of Oct.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
Meta, Oakley and Ray-Ban face a criminal complaint in Germany over whether the companies’ AI glasses breach the country’s strict privacy rules.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
My sources say that there was a piece of evidence that’s gone missing from the reports about the breach of the Cards of Deadly Fate.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
On a practical level, he added, the data sharing increased the risk of breaches that can open law-abiding citizens up to identity theft.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
Ultimately, the report concluded, the department “contained the unrest” without any loss of life or “major breaches of critical infrastructure.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
SINGAPORE—A Singaporean real-estate billionaire is suing Brookfield Asset Management over alleged breaches of contract and confidentiality related to a proposed joint venture to buy industrial properties in the Southeast Asian city-state.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
It's now investigating both the government and the Environment Agency over possible rule breaches.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
An intelligent being: A humpback whale breaches the surface of the waters, Frederick Sound, Alaska, summer 1979.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
He said the public still does not know enough about the situation or whether the data is secure or if it was breached, and said lawmakers should examine whether any laws or policies were violated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Several rivers breached their embankments, Baruah says, sending powerful currents through towns and villages.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
In some of these experiments, AI agents escaped the sandboxes or otherwise breached test limits, reached the internet, and then hacked into other companies or improperly gained access to data.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
The regulator, which received two complaints about the broadcast, said the "very significant inaccuracy" and the "considerable length of time" taken to acknowledge the error breached two of its rules.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
The wheel was the kind used to hold back seawater if a hull breached, a solid airtight door.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
Some routinely put on a show: NYC0318, a whale also seen by AFP on a recent outing, often charms whale watchers with sensational lunge-feeds, breaching the water and prompting shrieks of delight.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
The shark made a few circles, its fins at times breaching the water’s surface as stunned fishermen looked on.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
Another reason for upward pressure on the prison population is that more people than before are being returned to prison for breaching the conditions of their release.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Chelsea have been fined £10m and given a suspended two-window registration ban by the Football Association for breaching rules relating to payments to agents between 2009 and 2022.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Then she spotted a few rays from the setting sun breaching the billows, and she oriented herself.
From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
