to break a law, promise, agreement, or accepted standard
The company breached environmental regulations.
He breaches the terms of his parole if he leaves the state.
✦ Verb sense developed from the noun meaning “break; violation.”
to force a way through or over something, or to leap clear of the water
Rising river water finally breached the dam.
Hackers managed to breach the firewall.
✦ Extended verbal sense of physically breaking through, recorded since the 16th century.
