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breach

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A breaking or infraction of a law, or of any obligation or tie.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

breech
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈbɹitʃ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. law

    A breaking or infraction of a law, or of any obligation or tie; violation; non-fulfillment.

  2. The act of breaking, in a figurative sense.

  3. A breaking up of amicable relations, a falling out.

  4. 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.

  5. An opening (especially a gap in a dike or fortification)

  6. A breaking of waters, as over a vessel or a coastal defence; the waters themselves.

verb

  1. transitive

    To violate or break.

  2. Make an opening or gap in

  3. intransitiveof a whale or other sea creature

    To leap out of the water.

  4. transitive

    To make a breach in.

  5. intransitive

    To suffer a breach.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A breaking or infraction of a law, or of any obligation or tie; violation; non-fulfillment.

Used this way, breach is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • Law/legal
  • Government/politics
  • Academic writing
  • Ethics/values

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Gap / opening

open breach

Particular

breach science

Other combinations

material breachserious breach

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • breach of contractnounCompound term

    A breach of a legal duty.

  • breach of dutynounCompound term

    A breach of due care.

  • breach of promisenounCompound term

    Failure to keep a promise (of marriage).

  • breach of the covenant of warrantynounCompound term

    A failure of the seller's guarantee of good title.

  • breach of the peacenounCompound term

    Any act of molesting, interrupting, hindering, agitating, or arousing from a state of repose or otherwise depriving inhabitants of the peace and quiet to which they are entitled.

  • breach of trustnounCompound term

    Violation (either through fraud or negligence) by a trustee of a duty that equity requires of him.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.