violation
n. countablen. an action that breaks a law, a rule, or someone's rights. In modern slang, it can also mean a very mean or embarrassing insult that 'destroys' someone in a conversation.
n. an act of disregarding or breaking a law, agreement, or principle. In contemporary informal British English, it refers to a severe verbal insult or a social act that humiliates another person.
Parking your car here is a violation of the rules.
The company faced a massive fine after the inspection revealed a serious violation of safety standards.
The lawyer argued that the warrantless search constituted a clear violation of his client's constitutional rights, rendering the evidence inadmissible in court.
Borrowed from Middle French violation, from Latin violātiō (“injury, profanation”), from violō (“I treat with violence; I maltreat; I violate, defile, profane”). Morphologically violate + -ion.
Often paired with the preposition 'of' followed by the rule or right being broken.
a violation against the lawa violation of the lawThe noun violation typically takes the preposition 'of' to indicate the rule being broken, rather than 'against'.