breach of the peace
1
5.0
- noun
- /briːtʃ əv ðə piːs/
- UK
:
alteración del orden público
- When the parents attempted to intervene, they were threatened with arrest and charged with breach of the peace.
Examples
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The driver's dangerous swerving on a public road was a breach of the peace in the agent's presence that authorized an arrest under Texas statutory law, the Fifth Circuit held.
Academic text (2018) -
The judge explained that shouting threats in public could be considered a breach of the peace.
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You've committed a breach of the peace.
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The police should have pulled all masked men out of that demo and charged them with behavior likely to cause a breach of the peace.
Blog text (24) -
Because the citizen's arrest statute permitted anyone to arrest the driver for breach of the peace, a federal agent could take steps toward making an arrest under the same circumstances.
Academic text (2018) -
- You are charged that on May 28 you did wilfully publish an English-Hungarian phrase book with intent to cause a breach of the peace.
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The words used by Chaplinsky are epithets likely to provoke the average person to retaliation and thereby cause a breach of the peace.
Academic text (2008) -
There are exceptions to 1st Amendment protection of speech against government restriction, such as when speech is obscene, libelous, or constitutes "fighting words" likely to inflict injury and provoke a breach of the peace.
Blog text (27) -
The police arrested several individuals for a breach of the peace during the protest.
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In the small town, loud parties at night often lead to charges of breach of the peace.
Synonyms
45
3.7
A noisy event in a public place that bothers other people
16
5.0
Behavior that disturbs people in public and may be illegal
1
5.1
An action that makes a public place noisy or unsafe and can get you in trouble with the police
1
3.7
Actions in public that disturb other people or cause trouble
Antonyms
How Disturbing
329
4.1
1
5.6
- UK
1
5.0
- Formal
1
5.1
45
3.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'breach' means a violation and 'peace' means public tranquility, so 'breach of the peace' literally denotes a violation of public order. This follows a common 'X of Y' noun pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents and basic grammar can reliably infer the meaning.
Etymology
The phrase breach of the peace comes from the image of someone breaking the town's calm: breach (a break) and peace (public quiet). So today it means an act that makes a public 'disturbance' or breaks the 'public order'.