VIOLATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does violate mean? 

• VIOLATE (verb)
  The verb VIOLATE has 6 senses:

1. fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns

2. act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises

3. destroy

4. violate the sacred character of a place or language

5. force (someone) to have sex against their will

6. destroy and strip of its possession

  Familiarity information: VIOLATE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VIOLATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they violate    ... he / she / it violates   
Past simple: violated   
Past participle: violated   
-ing form: violating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

break; go against; violate

Context example:

This sentence violates the rules of syntax

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "violate"):

fly in the face of; fly in the teeth of (go against)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Antonym:

conform to (observe)

Derivation:

violable (capable of being violated)

violation (an act that disregards an agreement or a right)

violative (violating or tending to violate or offend against)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

breach; break; go against; infract; offend; transgress; violate

Context example:

break a promise

Hypernyms (to "violate" is one way to...):

disrespect (show a lack of respect for)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "violate"):

sin; transgress; trespass (commit a sin; violate a law of God or a moral law)

blunder; boob; drop the ball; goof; sin (commit a faux pas or a fault or make a serious mistake)

conflict; contravene; infringe; run afoul (go against, as of rules and laws)

trespass (break the law)

intrude; trespass (enter unlawfully on someone's property)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

violable (capable of being violated)

violative (violating or tending to violate or offend against)

violator (someone who violates the law)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Destroy

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

violate my privacy

Hypernyms (to "violate" is one way to...):

disturb; touch (tamper with)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Violate the sacred character of a place or language

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

desecrate; outrage; profane; violate

Context example:

profane the name of God

Hypernyms (to "violate" is one way to...):

assail; assault; attack; set on (attack someone physically or emotionally)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

violation (entry to another's property without right or permission)

violation (a disrespectful act)

violative (violating or tending to violate or offend against)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Force (someone) to have sex against their will

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

assault; dishonor; dishonour; outrage; rape; ravish; violate

Context example:

The woman was raped on her way home at night

Hypernyms (to "violate" is one way to...):

assail; assault; attack; set on (attack someone physically or emotionally)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "violate"):

gang-rape (rape (someone) successively with several attackers)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

violation (the crime of forcing a person to submit to sexual intercourse against his or her will)

violator (someone who assaults others sexually)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Destroy and strip of its possession

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

despoil; plunder; rape; spoil; violate

Context example:

The soldiers raped the beautiful country

Hypernyms (to "violate" is one way to...):

destroy; ruin (destroy completely; damage irreparably)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They want to violate the prisoners

 Context examples 

No principle of either would be violated by my marriage with Mr. Darcy.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

He had violated the law on both counts.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“Their innate sense of right has been violated,” Maud Brewster said, joining the conversation.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It was a torment, this hand that touched him and violated his instinct.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

In marrying a man indifferent to me, all risk would have been incurred, and all duty violated.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

A girl who, before his eyes, is violating an engagement voluntarily entered into with another man!

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

While you looked so, I should be certain that whatever charter you might grant under coercion, your first act, when released, would be to violate its conditions.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There might be only ten or fifteen men altogether, he said, but the will of the majority became the law for the whole ten or fifteen, and whoever violated that will was punished.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

If you can assure me that what you intend does not violate either of these two, then I give my consent at once; though for the life of me, I cannot understand what you are driving at.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

All which, however happily tempered by the laws of that kingdom, have been sometimes violated by each of the three parties, and have more than once occasioned civil wars; the last whereof was happily put an end to by this prince’s grand-father, in a general composition; and the militia, then settled with common consent, has been ever since kept in the strictest duty.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)