breaching

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The act of breaking through, making a gap in, or violating something.

   Like the instant a dam wall gives way and water rushes through the gap.

   The breaching of the levee released a torrent into the lower district.

   Investigators documented the breaching of the security perimeter.

   Similarrupture, breaking, violation, penetration

   Note

   A countable noun, unlike the gerund it resembles: it takes a plural, as in breachings of decorum, and its object follows of. Compare the breaching of the levee with breaching the levee. The second is the verb form, which takes its object directly. The plural also shows how readily the noun stretches from walls and levees to manners and rules.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of breach.

   The whale was breaching repeatedly off the bow of the boat.

   Reporters accused the company of breaching its contract.

   Note

   One -ing form carries every use of the verb. With an object it means breaking through or breaking faith: breaching a wall, a ship, a contract. Without an object it describes something giving way, or a whale leaping clear of the water. An informal, usually passive use belongs to enforcement, where someone is breached for failing a legal obligation. So being breached can mean being charged rather than broken.

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