# breach

> English word · Noun · IPA /bɹiːtʃ/ · frequency rank #5,764

## Definitions
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.
2. The act of breaking, in a figurative sense.
3. A breaking or infraction of a law, or of any obligation or tie; violation; non-fulfillment.
4. A breaking up of amicable relations, a falling out.
5. A difference in opinions, social class, etc.
6. A breaking of waters, as over a vessel or a coastal defence; the waters themselves.
7. A breaking out upon; an assault.
8. A bruise; a wound.
9. A hernia; a rupture.

## Etymology
From Middle English breche, from Old English bryċe (“fracture, breach”) and brǣċ (“breach, breaking, destruction”), from Proto-West Germanic *bruki, from Proto-Germanic *brukiz (“breach, fissure”) and *brēkō (“breaking”).

## Easily confused with
- **break** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/breach-vs-break)
- **bread** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/breach-vs-bread)
- **bream** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/breach-vs-bream)
- **breath** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/breach-vs-breath)
- **breaks** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/breach-vs-breaks)
- **breast** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/breach-vs-breast)
- **brunch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/breach-vs-brunch)
- **brooch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/breach-vs-brooch)
- **breech** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/breach-vs-breech)
- **broach** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/breach-vs-broach)
- **breathe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/breach-vs-breathe)
- **breadth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/breach-vs-breadth)
- **breaths** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/breach-vs-breaths)
- **breached** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/breach-vs-breached)
- **breaches** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/breach-vs-breaches)
- **bach** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bach-vs-breach)
- **brah** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/brah-vs-breach)
- **Brea** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/brea-vs-breach)
- **beach** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beach-vs-breach)
- **bench** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bench-vs-breach)

## Common misspellings (9)
`bbreach`, `berach`, `braech`, `breacch`, `breachh`, `breahc`, `brecah`, `brreach`, `rbeach`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/breach