breach

1. 1

   A gap or opening made by breaking or battering, as in a wall, fortification or levee / embankment; the space between the parts of a solid body rent by violence.

   • "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead."
2. 2

   The act of breaking, in a figurative sense.

   • But were the poet to make a total difression from his subject, and introduce a new actor, nowise connected with the personages, the imagination, feeling a breach in transition, would enter coldly into the new scene;
3. 3

   A breaking or infraction of a law, or of any obligation or tie; violation; non-fulfillment.

   • breach of promise
4. 4

   A breaking up of amicable relations, a falling out.

   • There's fallen between him and my lord / An unkind breach.
5. 5

   A difference in opinions, social class, etc.figuratively

   • For London to have its own exclusive immigration policy would exacerbate the sense that immigration benefits only certain groups and disadvantages the rest. It would entrench the gap between London and the rest of the nation. And it would w
6. 6

   A breaking of waters, as over a vessel or a coastal defence; the waters themselves.

   • A clear breach is when the waves roll over the vessel without breaking. A clean breach is when everything on deck is swept away.
7. 7

   A breaking out upon; an assault.

   • And Dauid was diſpleaſed, becauſe the Lord had made a breach vpon Uzza; wherefore that place is called Perez-Uzza, to this day.
8. 8

   A bruise; a wound.archaic

   • An vncouth paine torments my grieued ſoule, And death arreſts the organe of my voyce. Who entring at the breach thy ſword hath made, Sackes euery vaine and artier of my heart, […]
   • Breach, for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath cauſed a blemiſh in a man, ſo ſhall it be done to him againe.
9. 9

   A hernia; a rupture.archaic

syn. break · gap · rift · rupture

1. 1

   To make a breach in.transitive

   • They breached the outer wall, but not the main one.
2. 2

   To violate or break.transitive

   • breach an agreement
   • breach an accord
3. 3

   To break into a ship or into a coastal defence.transitive

   • On this occasion, the damage was far more serious. The sea wall was breached completely for a distance of over 50 yd., and the gap had to be bridged by a temporary timber viaduct.
4. 4

   To suffer a breach.intransitive

   • Picard: We don't have time for this! The Pasteur’s core is going to breach!
5. 5

   To leap out of the water.intransitive

   • The fearless whale-fishermen now found themselves in the midst of the monsters; ... some ... came jumping into the light of day, head uppermost, exhibiting their entire bodies in the sun, and falling on their sides into the water with the w
   • But one of its most surprising feats, as has been mentioned of the genera already described, is leaping completely out of the water, or 'breaching,' as it is called. ... it seldom breaches more than twice or thrice at a time, and in quick s
6. 6

   To charge, convict or take legal action against someone due to not meeting a legal obligation.informalpassivetransitive

   • However, you can breach your landlord if the maintenance item is considered an emergency repair under the terms of your lease.
   • Tenants have a right to breach a landlord for a failure to undertake necessary maintenance.