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Breach vs Fault - What's the difference?

breach | fault |

In transitive terms the difference between breach and fault

is that breach is to violate or break while fault is to criticize, blame or find fault with something or someone.

breach

English

(wikipedia breach)

Noun

(es)
  • A gap or opening made by breaking or battering, as in a wall, fortification or levee; the space between the parts of a solid body rent by violence; a break; a rupture; a fissure.
  • * 1599 , , Henry V , act 3, scene 1:
    • "Once more unto the breach , dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead."
  • A breaking up of amicable relations, a falling-out.
  • * Shakespeare
    • There's fallen between him and my lord / An unkind breach .
  • A breaking of waters, as over a vessel or a coastal defence; the waters themselves; surge; surf.
    • A clear breach''' is when the waves roll over the vessel without breaking. A clean '''breach is when everything on deck is swept away.
  • * Bible, 2 Sam. v. 20
    • The Lord hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters.
  • * 1719 , :
    • I cast my eye to the stranded vessel, when, the breach and froth of the sea being so big, I could hardly see it, it lay so far of; and considered, Lord! how was it possible I could get on shore.
  • A breaking out upon; an assault.
  • * Bible, 1 Chron. xiii. 11
    • The Lord had made a breach upon Uzza.
  • (archaic) A bruise; a wound.
  • * Bible, Leviticus xxiv. 20
    • breach for breach, eye for eye
  • (archaic) A hernia; a rupture.
  • (legal) A breaking or infraction of a law, or of any obligation or tie; violation; non-fulfillment; as, a breach of contract; a breach of promise.
  • (figurative) A difference in opinions, social class etc.
  • * 2013 September 28, , " London Is Special, but Not That Special," New York Times (retrieved 28 September 2013):
    • For London to have its own exclusive immigration policy would exacerbate the sense that immigration benefits only certain groups and disadvantages the rest. It would entrench the gap between London and the rest of the nation. And it would widen the breach between the public and the elite that has helped fuel anti-immigrant hostility.
  • The act of breaking, in a figurative sense.
  • * 1748 , David Hume, Enquiry concerning Human Understanding , Section 3, § 12:
    • But were the poet to make a total difression from his subject, and introduce a new actor, nowise connected with the personages, the imagination, feeling a breach in transition, would enter coldly into the new scene;

    Synonyms

    * break * rift * rupture * gap

    Derived terms

    * breach of contract * breach of promise * breach of the peace * *

    Verb

    (es)
  • To make a breach in.
    • They breached the outer wall, but not the main one.
  • To violate or break.
  • * 2000 , Mobile Oil Exploration & Producing Southeast, Inc. v. United States, Justice Stevens.
    • "I therefore agree with the Court that the Government did breach its contract with petitioners in failing to approve, within 30 days of its receipt, the plan of exploration petitioners submitted."
  • (transitive, nautical, of the sea) To break into a ship or into a coastal defence.
  • (of a whale) To leap clear out of the water.

    • fault

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A defect; something that detracts from perfection.
  • * Shakespeare
    • As patches set upon a little breach / Discredit more in hiding of the fault .
  • A mistake or error.
    • No!. This is my fault, not yours
  • A weakness of character; a failing.
    • For all her faults , she's a good person at heart.
  • A minor offense.
  • Blame; the responsibility for a mistake.
    • The fault lies with you.
  • (seismology) A fracture in a rock formation causing a discontinuity.
  • (mining) In coal seams, coal rendered worthless by impurities in the seam.
    • slate fault''', dirt '''fault , etc.
    (Raymond)
  • (tennis) An illegal serve.
  • (electrical) An abnormal connection in a circuit.
  • (obsolete) want; lack
  • * Shakespeare
    • one, it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friend
  • (hunting) A lost scent; act of losing the scent.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled, / With much ado, the cold fault clearly out.

    Derived terms

    * at fault * double fault * to a fault

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To criticize, blame or find fault with something or someone.
  • * Traditional song
    • For that I will not fault thee / But for humbleness exalt thee.
  • (geology) To fracture.
  • To commit a mistake or error.
  • (computing) To undergo a page fault.
  • * 2002 , Æleen Frisch, Essential system administration
    • When a page is read in, a few pages surrounding the faulted page are typically loaded as well in the same I/O operation in an effort to head off future page faults.