to breach

Examples

• All

• Did you anticipate anybody breaching the cooling system?

  Movie 43 (2013)

• The walls of the fortress had been breached; the enemy had infiltrated the very ranks of the clergy.

  Academic text (2007)

• How is that one man could breach the security of four and still escape with my package?

  Assassin's Vow (2007)

• A few days before he breaches the walls.

  The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024)

• Eventually, Red Army engineers were able to breach the walls and Red troops stormed into the city.

• The U.S. government prevents thousands of hackers from breaching its systems every day.

  Academic text (2017)

• On May 11, the Fifth Army attacked and breached the Gustav Line.

  Academic text (2007)

• When night fell, it became clear that the Ottomans would inevitably breach the fortress walls.

• I found where a bolt cutter had been used to breach the chain-link fence.

  Fiction book (1998)

• The floodwaters breached the levee, causing widespread damage to nearby homes.

Synonyms

O

to open up

vsto breach

64 2.5

Make something not closed, for example by removing a lock or cover

is specific to creating a gap in walls or defenses rather than general access

P

to puncture

vsto breach

50 3.9

To make a small hole in something with a sharp object that lets air or liquid escape

creates a larger gap in a barrier rather than a tiny leaking hole

B

to break through

vsto breach

43 3.7

To move suddenly through a barrier, as light or a person

creates an opening in a barrier without necessarily passing fully through it

Antonyms

C

to close

∞ 1.0

To shut something so it is not open

R

to repair

365 1.0

To fix something that is broken or not working

Idioms

I

into the breach

4 8.2

To step forward and help in a difficult situation when others cannot or will not

S

to step into the breach

• Informal

2 7.3

To take responsibility and act when someone else cannot

H

honor in the breach

• Literature

9.9

A belief that breaking an unfair rule is right

O

once more into the breach

• Literature

9.9

To try again to face a difficult situation even after failing before

Compounds

B

breach of contract

• Formal

12 3.6

Failure to do what a contract requires, for example not delivering goods or not paying

M

material breach

• Formal

6 8.2

A serious failure to follow a contract that lets the other side end it or claim money

B

breach of trust

4 6.7

To break the trust someone gives you by acting dishonestly or failing a duty

B

breach of promise

• Archaic

1 9.5

Failing to keep a promise to marry someone that can lead to a court case

B

breach of the peace

• UK

1 5.0

An action that makes people in public feel unsafe or upset

B

breach of duty

• Formal

1 6.5

Not doing what you must by law or by what is right to keep others safe

A

anticipatory breach

• Formal

1 9.9

A person or company saying before the agreed time that they will not do what the contract says

B

breach of tradition

6.3

An action that goes against customs people have followed for a long time

B

breach of trust with fraudulent intent

• UK

9.9

A crime of illegally taking money or things someone gave you to look after and keeping them for yourself

B

breach of warranty

• Formal

4.4

A seller that does not keep a promise that something bought will work or be repaired

B

breach of the covenant of warranty

• UK

9.9

Failure by a seller to keep a promise that the buyer can own the property without debts or claims

C

constructive breach

• Formal

9.6

When one side makes a contract impossible to carry out before it is due

P

partial breach

• Jargon

7.5

A break of a contract that does not end it but lets the harmed person ask for money

How Wide

to breach

67 4.2

to break through

43 3.7

to puncture

50 3.9

Surface Forms

Etymology