Entry Word: breach

Function: noun

Meaning: 1 a failure to uphold the requirements of law, duty, or obligation <the presidentʼs deliberate misstatements were widely seen as a breach of the public trust>

Synonyms infraction, infringement, transgression, trespass, violation

Related Words offense, sin, wrong; disregard, forgetting, ignoring, nonobservance, overlooking; delinquency, dereliction, neglect; intrusion, invasion

Near Antonyms respecting, upholding

Antonyms nonviolation, observance

2 a breaking of a moral or legal code <cheating on the exam was a serious breach of the school's honor code> — see offense 1
3 an open space in a barrier (as a wall or hedge) <the cat got out of the yard through a breach in the hedge> — see gap 1