Adjacent Words

Violate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

VI'OLATE, v.t. [L. violo.]
1. To injure; to hurt; to interrupt; to disturb; as, to violate sleep.
Kindness for man, and pity for his fate, may mix with bliss and yet not violate.
2. To break; to infringe; to transgress; as, to violate the laws of the state, or the rules of good breeding; to violate the divine commands; to violate one's vows or promises. Promises and commands may be violated negatively, by non-observance.
3. To injure; to do violence to.
Forbid to violate the sacred fruit.
4. To treat with irreverence; to profane; as, to violate the sanctity of a holy place.
5. To ravish; to compress by force.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns; "This sentence violates the rules of syntax" [syn: violate, go against, break] [ant: conform to]
2: act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises; "offend all laws of humanity"; "violate the basic laws or human civilization"; "break a law"; "break a promise" [syn: transgress, offend, infract, violate, go against, breach, break] [ant: keep, observe]
3: destroy; "Don't violate my garden"; "violate my privacy"
4: violate the sacred character of a place or language; "desecrate a cemetery"; "violate the sanctity of the church"; "profane the name of God" [syn: desecrate, profane, outrage, violate]
5: force (someone) to have sex against their will; "The woman was raped on her way home at night" [syn: rape, ravish, violate, assault, dishonor, dishonour, outrage]
6: destroy and strip of its possession; "The soldiers raped the beautiful country" [syn: rape, spoil, despoil, violate, plunder]

Merriam Webster's

I. transitive verb (-lated; -lating) Etymology: Middle English, from Latin violatus, past participle of violare, from viol- (as in violentus violent) Date: 15th century 1. break, disregard <violate the law> 2. to do harm to the person or especially the chastity of; specifically rape 2 3. to fail to show proper respect for ; profane <violate a shrine> 4. interrupt, disturb <violate the peace of a spring evening — Nancy Larter> • violative adjective • violator noun II. adjective Date: 15th century archaic subjected to violation

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 disregard; fail to comply with (an oath, treaty, law, etc.). 2 treat (a sanctuary etc.) profanely or with disrespect. 3 break in upon, disturb (a person's privacy etc.). 4 assault sexually; rape. Derivatives: violable adj. violation n. violator n. Etymology: ME f. L violare treat violently

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Violate Vi"o*late, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Violates; p. pr. & vb. n. Violating.] [L. violatus, p. p. of violare to violate, fr. vis strength, force. See Violent.] 1. To treat in a violent manner; to abuse. His wife Boadicea violated with stripes, his daughters with rape. --Milton. 2. 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. Violated vows 'Twixt the souls of friend and friend. --Shak. Oft have they violated The temple, oft the law, with foul affronts. --Milton. 3. To disturb; to interrupt. ``Employed, it seems, to violate sleep.'' --Milton. 4. To commit rape on; to ravish; to outrage. Syn: To injure; disturb; interrupt; infringe; transgress; profane; deflour; debauch; dishonor.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(violates, violating, violated) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. If someone violates an agreement, law, or promise, they break it. (FORMAL) They went to prison because they violated the law... = break VERB: V n • violation (violations) To deprive the boy of his education is a violation of state law... He was in violation of his contract. N-VAR: usu N of n • violator (violators) ...a government which is a known violator of human rights. N-COUNT 2. If you violate someone's privacy or peace, you disturb it. (FORMAL) These men were violating her family's privacy. VERB: V n 3. If someone violates a special place, for example a grave, they damage it or treat it with disrespect. Detectives are still searching for those who violated the graveyard. = desecrate VERB: V n • violation The violation of the graves is not the first such incident. N-UNCOUNT: usu N of n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Injure, hurt. 2. Break, infringe, transgress, invade, break through, trench upon, encroach upon, set at naught, disobey. 3. Profane, desecrate, pollute, do violence to. 4. Abuse, outrage, ravish, deflour, debauch, constuprate, defile, commit rape upon, pollute.

Moby Thesaurus

abuse, adulterate, afflict, aggrieve, alloy, assault, assault sexually, attack, barbarize, batter, befoul, betray, bewitch, blight, breach, breach the law, break, break the law, brutalize, burn, butcher, canker, care naught for, carry on, cheapen, circumvent the law, coarsen, commit a crime, condemn, confound, contaminate, contravene, convert, corrupt, crucify, curse, damage, debase, debauch, deceive, defalcate, defile, deflorate, deflower, defy, degenerate, degrade, denature, deprave, desecrate, despoil, destroy, devalue, devirginate, disadvantage, dishonor, disobey, disobey the law, disregard, disregard the law, disserve, distort, distress, divert, do a mischief, do evil, do ill, do violence to, do wrong, do wrong by, doom, embezzle, envenom, err, flout, force, foul, get into trouble, go counter to, go on, hammer, harass, harm, hex, hurt, ignore, impair, infect, infract, infringe, injure, jinx, lay waste, lead astray, loot, maladminister, maltreat, maul, menace, misapply, misappropriate, misemploy, mishandle, mislead, mismanage, mistreat, misuse, molest, mug, not conform, not heed, not keep, not listen, not mind, not observe, offend, outrage, overpass, peculate, persecute, pervert, pilfer, pillage, play havoc with, play hob with, poison, pollute, possess sexually, prejudice, profane, prostitute, rage, ramp, rampage, rant, rape, ravage, rave, ravish, refuse to cooperate, riot, roar, ruin, sack, savage, scathe, scoff at, seduce, set at defiance, set at naught, set naught by, sin, slaughter, soil, sow chaos, spoil, storm, sully, taint, take, tear, tear around, terrorize, threaten, torment, torture, trample, trample on, trample underfoot, trample upon, transgress, trespass, twist, ulcerate, vandalize, violate the law, vitiate, vulgarize, warp, wound, wreak havoc on, wreck, wrong