Meaning of breach in English

breach

noun [ C ]

/briːtʃ/ us

/briːtʃ/

breach noun [C] (BROKEN PROMISE/RULE)

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an act of breaking a law, promise, agreement, or relationship:

breach of They felt that our discussions with other companies constituted a breach of our agreement.

breach of contract He was sued for breach of contract.

security breach There have been ten serious security breaches (= breaks in the security system) at the airport already this year.

(a) breach of the peace law specialized

(an example of) illegal noisy or violent behaviour in a public place:

Ten percent of this group were in persistent trouble for minor breaches of the peace.

be in breach of something formal

to be breaking a particular law or rule:

The theatre was in breach of the safety laws for having no fire doors.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Obeying & breaking the law

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Making & breaking promises & commitments

breach noun [C] (OPENING)

formal

a hole that is made in a wall or in another structure being used for protection during an attack:

A cannon ball had made a breach in their castle walls.

Compare

chink noun (CRACK)
cleft
crack noun (NARROW SPACE)
cranny
crevice
fissure
gap (SPACE)
interstice formal
opening noun (HOLE)
slit noun
slot noun (LONG HOLE)

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Making holes in things

breach

verb [ T ]

formal

/briːtʃ/ us

/briːtʃ/

breach verb [T] (BREAK PROMISE/RULE)

to break a law, promise, agreement, or relationship:

They breached the agreement they had made with their employer.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Obeying & breaking the law

See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Making & breaking promises & commitments

breach verb [T] (MAKE OPENING)

to make an opening in a wall or fence, especially in order to attack someone or something behind it:

Their defences were easily breached.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Making holes in things

(Definition of breach from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

breach | American Dictionary

breach

noun [ C ]

/britʃ/

breach noun [C] (BREAK)

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an act of breaking a rule, law, custom, or practice:

In a breach of security, unauthorized people were able to board the plane.

breach noun [C] (OPENING)

an opening in a wall or fence or in a line of military defense

breach

verb [ T ] us

/britʃ/

The river breached the dams.

(Definition of breach from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

breach | Business English

breach

noun [ C or U ]

LAW

/briːtʃ/ us

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a failure to obey a law or to do what was promised or agreed:

breach of sth Companies face fines of up to €75,000 for each breach of the legislation.

be/constitute a breach To publish in this form would constitute a breach of copyright.

a clear/flagrant/blatant breach His refusal to account for the money was a flagrant breach of all rules of professional conduct.

a serious/fundamental/grave breach

a possible/potential/alleged breach

The property developer was awarded $2,000,000 for breach of contract over the restaurant chain's withdrawal from a lease.

Both the Stock Exchange and the panel cleared the bank of any breach of regulations or insider-trading.

The public are used to breaches of promise by governments.

See also

anticipatory breach
breach of confidence
breach of duty
breach of fiduciary duty
breach of trust
breach of warranty

breach of the peace

the offence of illegal, noisy, or violent behaviour:

He was charged with breach of the peace at a blockade of the naval base last March.

be in breach of sth

to be breaking a particular law or rule:

Checks at Companies House show the firm is nearly 10 months overdue with its accounts in breach of company law.

The vendor will be required to warrant that it is not in breach of any of the contracts of employment.

breach

verb [ T ]

LAW formal

/briːtʃ/ us

to not obey a law or to not do what was promised or agreed:

The corporation was sued for allegedly breaching a contract to supply voice-mail systems.

The organization's conduct during the conflict breached international law, according to a leading human rights group.

breach rules/regulations

Since the group warned it was in danger of breaching its banking covenants last week, the shares have tumbled 47%.

(Definition of breach from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of breach

breach

More significantly, in the second parasite, breaches of the outer plasma membrane were evident extending over 1-5 % of the body surface in transverse sections.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We know when a peace agreement has been signed or breached.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In addition, our preliminary analyses indicated that breaches that might represent moral transgressions were uncommon.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In contrast, situational breaches and breaches of moral or social standards occur infrequently, and can vary widely in context, salience, and significance.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, these extraterrestrial invaders of suburbia have breached humanity's ultimate boundary, that between itself and the universe.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The crisis generated such antagonism between the opposing groups that even the facade of carefully constructed politeness that marked late eighteenthcentury society was breached.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

As healthcare organizations throughout the world deploy electronic health records, they will almost certainly experience breaches that engender unexpected and nonsensical situations.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Like computer-hackers breaching elaborate security systems to disrupt large organizations, they may have been secretly demonstrating their own cleverness.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The child 'breaks the barrier of the book's surface', just as, in opera, the edge of the proscenium is breached by the power of performance.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Thus, the success of prayer as a method for healing social breaches hinges on both par ties' responsiveness.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

There is no case of breaching the boundaries.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Naturally, users object to this and there have been a number of instances of users suing the organizations responsible for such breaches of privacy.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A question with no answer is a barrier than cannot be breached.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The state never assumed the integrity of an institution with its own rules and traditions that could not be breached by the imperial will.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Storytellers also added clarifications and dates, indicated possible breaches of their confidentiality, and underscored sensitive issues or passages they wished to remain unreported.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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