BREACHES Synonyms: 137 Similar and Opposite Words

breaches 1 of 2

noun

plural of breach

as in infringements

a failure to uphold the requirements of law, duty, or obligation the president's deliberate misstatements were widely seen as a breach of the public trust

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as in violations

a breaking of a moral or legal code cheating on the exam was a serious breach of the military academy's honor code

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as in gaps

an open space in a barrier (as a wall or hedge) the cat got out of the yard through a breach in the hedge

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breaches

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of breach

as in violates

to fail to keep a builder being sued by a homeowner for breaching a contract

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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 breaches

Noun

Defense Undersecretary Emil Michael, a task force vice chair, will lead an effort to develop protocols for labs to tell the government about breaches, hacks and other cyber issues. — Ashley Gold, semafor.com, 16 Oct. 2026 For example, researchers reviewing 1,138 breach cases found that almost 10% of patient health data breaches come from unauthorized access by health care employees who forward personally identifying information to personal accounts. — Alex Rosenblat — Calmatters, STAT, 15 Oct. 2026 The judge rejected Bennett’s requests for punitive damages and forfeiture of all the compensation Corcoran received during the period of the breaches, which would have amounted to most of his $10 million in earnings. — Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 14 Oct. 2026 Despite all the criticism that has pummeled the club since it was found guilty of over 100 charges relating to financial breaches, you could be fooled into thinking nothing was wrong. — Ben Church, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2026 Advertisement No other countries have confirmed related breaches so far. — Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 13 Oct. 2026 Personal information gets exposed through breaches, scraped from public sources and traded in criminal marketplaces. — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 13 Oct. 2026 City has been found guilty of widespread breaches of the Premier League's financial rules which could result in punishments including a massive fine, points deductions or even expulsion from England's top flight. — ABC News, 13 Oct. 2026 Deployers of those systems must complete a Fundamental Rights Impact Assessment before deployment, and penalties for violations reach 35 million euros or 7% of global turnover for the most serious breaches. — Eshaan Jain, Forbes.com, 5 Oct. 2026

Verb

Eventually, the whale breaches the surface and Jay nearly manages to break free by climbing out of its open mouth. — Megan McCluskey, Time, 16 Oct. 2026 There’s seat-shaking violence in how the whale breaches the surface and slams its weight back down (the crafty sound design is by James Miller) and body horror in its claustrophobic, spongy inner chambers. — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2026 Risk and liability Matt Maher, founder of M7 Innovations and a consortium partner with MIT Media Lab, asked who is liable when an AI agent breaches a contract or causes other harm. — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 2 Oct. 2026 OpenAI announcing that its upcoming AI model, dubbed Astra, breaches certain cybersecurity thresholds and will have throttled-back cyber capabilities when released. — Zev Fima, CNBC, 2 Sep. 2026 In a professional firm, a trader who breaches a limit does not reload at two in the morning. — Daniel Schlaepfer, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2026 Wembanyama’s unorthodox combination of height and skill breaches our paradigms. — Marcus Thompson Ii, New York Times, 9 May 2026 Gas breaches $6 a gallon in California. — Angela Cullen, Bloomberg, 30 Apr. 2026 Her filing says the renaming violates federal statutes, breaches the board’s fiduciary duties and contradicts the trust Congress created after Kennedy’s assassination. — Jack Beresford, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 Mar. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for breaches

Noun

In April, the Actors Committee of the China Federation of Radio and Television Associations released a statement condemning such infringements and asserted that AI platforms needed to comply with the laws and strengthen their compliance rules.

— Ling Wei, Los Angeles Times, 10 Sep. 2026
To complete the drama, England finished with 13, Argentina with 15 when Henry Pollock was sent to the sin-bin over team infringements and Emmanuel Iyogun, on debut, for cynical offending.

— ABC News, ABC News, 18 July 2026

Definition of infringements

Noun

And unlike state authorities who can be sued for civil rights violations in state courts, federal law enforcement authorities are generally shielded from such lawsuits based on legal precedents.

— Philip Wang, Time, 19 Oct. 2026
Jackson was previously convicted of two counts of assault of a police officer and one count of carrying a pistol without a license and had three parole violations, the agency said.

— Greg Wehner, FOXNews.com, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of violations

Noun

The double-slit experiment, for example, is a classic setup where scientists send particles through two gaps in a screen and observe a resulting interference pattern, proving that the particles act as waves.

— Philipp Strasberg, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
Kyiv has since also reported gaps in intelligence sharing and restrictions on Elon Musk’s Starlink service, which is crucial for its drone missions, battlefield communications and air defense.

— Yuliya Talmazan, NBC news, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of gaps

Verb

In their eyes, this policy violates their First Amendment rights, and the Sheley's have joined the federal case challenging the state's requirements.

— Chierstin Roth, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026
While a judge recently ruled that the question had to stay on the ballot, the court has not ruled on whether the deal violates the city’s own charter, which requires a fair market-value proposal.

— Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of violates

Noun

The scope of the investigation into Omar is unclear, though Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has suggested that authorities were examining potential crimes related to her family's immigration paperwork.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 18 Oct. 2026
But using dogs to investigate crimes wasn’t widely adopted until the mid ‘80s, Gould said.

— Natasha Holt, FOXNews.com, 17 Oct. 2026

Definition of crimes

Noun

Chacarra was 4 under for his round after 11 holes, having started out in the halfway lead after completing a second-round 67 early Saturday.

— ABC News, ABC News, 17 Oct. 2026
Using wooden planks and sandbags, Long Beach City work crews earlier this month had patched up holes in the boardwalk’s wall created by the hurricanes, but the reinforcements did not hold.

— Alicia Victoria Lozano, NBC news, 17 Oct. 2026

Definition of holes

Verb

A lot of the time, Deadline first exclusively breaks news that disperses to other outlets and, eventually, social media.

— The Deadline Team, Deadline, 14 Oct. 2026
Tommy breaks them out by using Vision as a battering ram, but Paladin is waiting outside to blast Vision with a shotgun full of adamantium rounds.

— Tasha Robinson, Vulture, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of breaks

Noun

Per the official logline, in the final season, as the survivors race to bury their sins before rescue arrives and an old flame roars back into town with plans of her own.

— Denise Petski, Deadline, 14 Oct. 2026
Many crimes, including property crimes like burglary or moral sins such as adultery, were punishable by death in the American colonies.

— Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of sins

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“Breaches.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/breaches. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

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