Showing results for "violated"

• past tense form of violate.
• past participle of violate.

violated

American  

[vahy-uh-ley-tid] / ˈvaɪ əˌleɪ tɪd /

adjective

1. (of a law, principle, promise, agreement, instruction, etc.) acted against; not kept or honored; broken or transgressed.

   The often violated rule of thumb is that families should not spend more than 30 percent of their budget on housing.

   After this betrayal by local authorities, it will take some effort to restore the violated trust of the community.

2. (of something precious, sacred, beautiful, etc.) treated with disrespect or contempt; marred or desecrated.

   British art of the World War I era is full of images of a torn and violated landscape.

   The discovery of the violated tombs has caused pain and distress among the people of the area.

3. sexually molested, especially raped.

   History shows repeatedly the difficulty for a violated woman to be heard and believed.

4. rudely disturbed; thoughtlessly interfered with.

   They complain about their violated privacy, but then post way more online than anyone wants to know about them.

5. (of a border, home, property, restricted space, etc.) broken through or into by force or without right.

   Law enforcement was able to get to the violated border point before the smuggler escaped.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of violate.

Other Word Forms

• quasi-violated
  adjective
• unviolated
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of violated

First recorded in 1535–45; violate ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; violate ( def. ) + -ed ¹ ( def. ) for the verb sense

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

violated

Translated into constitutional terms, Minnesota argued that the surge violated federalist principles by invading the state’s reserved police powers: the broad authority to govern public health, safety, welfare, and order.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

Immigration authorities said the two Dutch men had violated immigration laws by organising the running event without obtaining permits.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

Legendary venture capitalist Bill Gurley was especially blunt in his own social-media post: “If OpenAI violated Hugging Face in a way that ‘demands’ new regulation; let’s start with a formal criminal investigation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026

The San Bruno-based company owned by Google agreed to a $7.5-million settlement in a class action lawsuit that alleged the company violated California’s automatic renewal law when renewing YouTube TV subscriptions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

In 1987 he filed a lawsuit in federal court to halt Axel’s research on the grounds that it violated the 1975 National Environmental Policy Act, because it had never been proven environmentally safe.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot