Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To break or disregard (a law or promise, for example).
- v. To assault (a person) sexually.
- v. To do harm to (property or qualities considered sacred); desecrate or defile.
- v. To disturb rudely or improperly; interrupt: violated our privacy.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To treat roughly or injuriously; handle so as to harm or hurt; do violence to; outrage.
- To break in upon; interrupt; disturb.
- To desecrate; dishonor; treat with irreverence; profane, or meddle with profanely.
- To infringe; transgress, as a contract, law, promise, or the like, either by a positive act contrary to the promise, etc., or by neglect or non-fulfilment: as, to violate confidence.
- To ravish; deflower by force; commit rape on.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To treat in a violent manner; to abuse.
- v. To do violence to, as to anything that should be held sacred or respected; to profane; to desecrate; to break forcibly; to trench upon; to infringe.
- v. To disturb; to interrupt.
- v. To commit rape on; to ravish; to outrage.
WordNet 3.0
- v. act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises
- v. destroy.
- v. fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns
- v. force (someone) to have sex against their will
- v. destroy and strip of its possession
- v. violate the sacred character of a place or language
Etymologies
- From Latin violatus, past participle of violare ("treat with violence, whether bodily or mental"), from vis ("strength, power, force, violence") (Wiktionary)
- Middle English violaten, from Latin violāre, violāt-, from vīs, vi-, force; see weiə- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Instead, the only violation gays routinely violate is DADT.”
“Given their current role they will not be a passive player should we be foolish enough to again violate the Nuremberg prohibitions on aggressive war.”
“You will, in short, violate the (four) basic principles of trustworthiness.”
Charles H. Green: L'Affaire Madoff: Villain? Or Canary in the Mine?
“Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said in a separate memo to employees that the flier "was prepared by the Marketing department and was never vetted by me or by the newsroom" and would have been "immediately killed" because its terms violate the paper's journalistic standards.”
The Wall Street Journal: Washington Post Caught In Controversy Over Access
“In flight cell phone calls violate federal flight regulations.”
“Of course, if the calls violate the law, one could go to court and seek an injunction to prevent further use of the improper script.”
“Would releasing your name violate your right to free speech?”
“Brownlee's campaign says the calls violate state law because there's no disclaimer indicating who paid for or authorized them.”
“Jon Rowe: Careful there Dave, you wouldn’t want to encourage Christians to again violate Romans 13 as they arguably did during the American Revolution.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘violate’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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AFET - diplomacy
broker a peace ac..., client state, deadlocked peace ..., embassy, freeze, goodwill ambassador, hinterland, interfere in dome..., intervene personally, maintain technica..., mediation, no business as usual and 670 more...
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Violence
sucker punch, punch, bunch of fives, haymaker, bare-knuckle, punch-drunk, brawler, scrapper, hellkite, street fighter, gamecock, powerhouse and 30 more...
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Verbs
TO FOSTER GROWTH ..., facilitate, bolster, promote, took over, praise, handle, lambaste, pledge, hoard, inspire, degenerate and 18 more...
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POL - HU political issues
Hungary in the English-speaking press 2010-2013. Topical words and expressions.
world of fixed ma..., wounds of history, workfare society, ultra-liberal jou..., undermine the rul..., uncouth eastern E..., tug of war over m..., workfare programme, temptation to tur..., vague myths of pu..., sweep away corrup..., Victatorship and 493 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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dyy's Words
ambivalence, irony, double-edged sword, paradox, struggle, plunge, buoy, pigeon-hole, ultimately, status quo, fuel, undermine and 230 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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lucidityprevails's Words
lucidity, journalistic, truthiness, foolhardy, egotism, lesbian, orgasmic, activism, moonglow, voodoo, conquer, demolish and 534 more...
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verb
revel, stagger, vex, swipe, pounce, delve, gambol, romp, rollick, cavort, frolic, rave and 7 more...
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