Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To disregard or act in a manner that does not conform to (a law or promise, for example).
  • transitive verb To assault (a person) sexually.
  • transitive verb To do harm to (property or qualities considered sacred); desecrate or defile.
  • transitive verb To disturb rudely or improperly; interrupt.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To treat roughly or injuriously; handle so as to harm or hurt; do violence to; outrage.
  • To break in upon; interrupt; disturb.
  • To desecrate; dishonor; treat with irreverence; profane, or meddle with profanely.
  • To infringe; transgress, as a contract, law, promise, or the like, either by a positive act contrary to the promise, etc., or by neglect or non-fulfilment: as, to violate confidence.
  • To ravish; deflower by force; commit rape on.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To treat in a violent manner; to abuse.
  • transitive verb 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.
  • transitive verb To disturb; to interrupt.
  • transitive verb To commit rape on; to ravish; to outrage.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To break, disregard, disagree or not act according to (rules, conventions, etc.).
  • verb To rape.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises
  • verb destroy
  • verb fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns
  • verb force (someone) to have sex against their will
  • verb destroy and strip of its possession
  • verb violate the sacred character of a place or language

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English violaten, from Latin violāre, violāt-, from vīs, vi-, force; see weiə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin violatus, past participle of violare ("treat with violence, whether bodily or mental"), from vis ("strength, power, force, violence")

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