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)
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breaches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
breached,
past participle, past
-
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
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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
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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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Commonly Confused Words, List 1
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Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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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:
No details were provided about the circumstances of the alleged breach.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
The breach blew past everything the exchange had set aside to cover such an incident.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
In the case of Binance, the investigation is pointing toward a "compromised" laptop of one of its engineers, in addition to "points of breach", the platform said on X.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026
Binance executives are racing to cover billions in losses from the biggest crypto heist in history, a breach that blew past everything the exchange had set aside to cover such an incident.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Lord Asriel’s force, the squadron of gyropters and the zeppelin fuel tanker, had reached the opening between the worlds: the breach in the sky above Svalbard.
From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman
Losses will be covered by the Secure Asset Fund for Users, a reserve fund of around $1 billion used in cases of extreme breaches, and the company’s funds.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026
“Where we’re seeing any breaches or failures, it’s on commercial or private residential property. Everyone has to do their part.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
In spite of warnings from Cloudflare and AWS that "millions of hacking attempts" had been made every hour, there is also no evidence of large scale data breaches or cyber-attacks.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
TOKYO—Hackers used an artificial-intelligence tool made by a Chinese engineer to target companies in Japan, according to cybersecurity researchers, adding to a wave of breaches that highlight how AI-powered attacks can overwhelm cyber defenses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
But the inside of a square is forever mysterious, unless some terrible accident or autopsy breaches the sides and exposes the interior parts.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Whether the AI company has breached copyright law will be decided by the Munich Regional Court in spring 2027.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
Mereness, who owns the Slip with partners Randall LaFaye and Carlos Raygoza, said the ocean has breached the Redondo Beach seawall every day since Monday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
With little room to raise taxes and voters rejecting austerity, the country’s net debt is projected to top 111% of GDP this year, while 10-year yields recently breached 5% for the first time since 2002.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026
The next key moving average to keep an eye on, which the Nasdaq hasn’t breached since March, is the 200-DMA, which many view as a dividing line between longer-term uptrends and downtrends.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
The water breached and dodged the Phoenician stones surrounding the island without any difficulty at all.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
It comes as the Independent Expert Panel published a report, external requiring Tony Vaughan to apologise for breaching Parliament's bullying and harassment policy.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
“The government is seeking to boost investment while not breaching fiscal rules,” Morgan Stanley’s Bruna Skarica says in a note.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
Tales of artificial-intelligence agents breaching websites have been in the news for months.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
The jeers from Manchester City fans were turned up a notch against Ipswich last Saturday when the side played their first home game since being found guilty of breaching the Premier League's financial rules.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026
More importantly, breaching that physical barrier opened researchers’ minds to the wider spectrum of powered flight’s possibilities, and its challenges.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
