infringe

Synonym Chooser

How does the verb infringe differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of infringe are encroach, invade, and trespass. While all these words mean "to make inroads upon the property, territory, or rights of another," infringe implies an encroachment clearly violating a right or prerogative.

infringing a copyright

When is it sensible to use encroach instead of infringe?

In some situations, the words encroach and infringe are roughly equivalent. However, encroach suggests gradual or stealthy entrance upon another's territory or usurpation of another's rights or possessions.

the encroaching settlers displacing the native peoples

When can invade be used instead of infringe?

While in some cases nearly identical to infringe, invade implies a hostile and injurious entry into the territory or sphere of another.

accused of invading their privacy

When might trespass be a better fit than infringe?

The synonyms trespass and infringe are sometimes interchangeable, but trespass implies an unwarranted or unlawful intrusion.

hunters trespassing on farmland

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of infringe The separate but similar episodes have sparked a firestorm of accusations, predominantly from Democrats, that Trump and allies are using the federal government to infringe on free speech. Ramsey Touchberry, The Washington Examiner, 19 Sep. 2025 Beryl Lipton, senior investigative researcher at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), told Forbes that amassing and combining vast amounts of information in the way Tangles does can infringe on citizens’ rights. Thomas Brewster, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025 Per the outlet, his lawyers claim that the docuseries was defamatory and would infringe their right to a fair trial. Jordana Comiter, PEOPLE, 17 Sep. 2025 Notre Dame received a red-light warning for its policies after FIRE found its data and information technologies policy, which polices how students behave on the university's online network, can substantially infringe on students' rights. Cate Charron, IndyStar, 9 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for infringe
Recent Examples of Synonyms for infringe
Verb
  • The president of the European Commission highlighted that in just the last two weeks, Russian drones and warplanes have violated the airspace of six European nations, scrambling jets, grounding commercial flights and posing a direct threat to EU citizens.
    Caitlin McFall, FOXNews.com, 8 Oct. 2025
  • Lawsuits filed in recent days claim the federal government is overstepping its authority and violating constitutional protections.
    Amanda Castro, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Blakeney, who left Universal last spring, specializes in equipping theme parks with all of the unsexy infrastructure required to function—toilets, cellphone towers—as well as ensuring that none of it impinges on the illusion.
    Bianca Bosker, The Atlantic, 14 Sep. 2025
  • Workers aren’t necessarily worried about AI impinging on their jobs – a large majority, 80%, view AI technologies, including gen AI, as more of an opportunity than a threat.
    Joe McKendrick, Forbes.com, 27 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • On September 10, when several Russian drones breached Poland’s airspace, NATO aircraft were scrambled to intercept and shoot down some of the devices.
    Robert Birsel, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025
  • On Monday, Romanian Defense Minister Ionut Mosteanu said that another drone had been found close to his country’s border with Ukraine, weeks after Bucharest alleged that a Russian drone breached its airspace during an attack on its neighbor.
    Laura Sharman, CNN Money, 29 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • On October 7, 2023, as a terrorist army invaded Israel intending to commit genocide against the Jewish people, many world leaders rightly condemned Hamas’ murder, rape, and slaughter of Israelis and foreign nationals.
    Ofir Akunis, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Oct. 2025
  • The 2025 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to a trio of scientists – two of them American and one Japanese – for unraveling how the immune system protects us from thousands of different microbes trying to invade our bodies.
    Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 6 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • To Dalio, that rhetoric is the hallmark of a late-stage debt cycle, before reality intrudes.
    Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 4 Oct. 2025
  • Married life has, in the past, come with the couple dealing with others intruding on their joint personal time — like those neighbors who made a noise complaint about them in 1999.
    Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 2 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The digital dirham likely further entrenches the US dollar’s dominance, because the UAE’s currency is pegged to the greenback, but gives US regulators less oversight over financial flows.
    Kelsey Warner, semafor.com, 3 Oct. 2025
  • That smile is entrenched on Mann’s face these days and knocking it off is virtually impossible.
    Roderick Boone, Charlotte Observer, 2 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Infringe.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/infringe. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.

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