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

642 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

B

to break through

vsto breach

99 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

P

to puncture

vsto breach

44 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

Antonyms

C

to close

∞ 1.0

To shut something so it is not open

R

to repair

338 1.0

To fix something that is broken or not working

Idioms

I

into the breach

6 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

O

once more into the breach

• Literature

1 9.9

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

H

honor in the breach

• Literature

1 9.9

A belief that breaking an unfair rule is right

Compounds

B

breach of contract

• Formal

15 3.6

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

M

material breach

• Formal

8 8.2

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

B

breach of trust

5 6.7

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

B

breach of duty

• Formal

2 6.5

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

B

breach of promise

• Archaic

2 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

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 warranty

• Formal

1 4.4

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

B

breach of tradition

1 6.3

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

P

partial breach

• Jargon

1 7.5

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

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 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

How Wide

to breach

44 4.2

to break through

99 3.7

to puncture

44 3.9

Surface Forms

Etymology