Definition of "breach" []

• An opening, a tear, or a rupture. (noun)
• A gap or rift, especially in or as if in a solid structure such as a dike or fortification. (noun)
• A violation or infraction, as of a law, a legal obligation, or a promise. (noun)
• A breaking up or disruption of friendly relations; an estrangement. (noun)
• A leap of a whale from the water. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "It suggests a much more active decision to end the treaty and is much closer to the term breach than the term withdraw."
• "A heroic U.S. district judge, Jed Rakoff, refused to rubber-stamp the deal, which he called a breach of 'justice and morality' that 'suggests a rather cynical relationship between the parties.'"
• "CAIRO — Egypt said Saturday it will withdraw its ambassador from Israel to protest the deaths of Egyptian security forces in what it called a breach of the 1979 peace treaty between the two countries, sharply escalating tensions after a cross-border ambush that killed eight Israelis."