Infringed

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Broke or failed to comply with a rule or law ; intruded upon someone's legal rights or property boundaries
2. Acted against a regulation or law ; unlawfully limited or restricted others' rights or possessions
3. Disobeyed a legal requirement or standard ; improperly invaded or trespassed on someone else's protected rights or land

Etymology: "Infringed" is the past tense and past participle of "infringe," which English borrowed from Latin "īnfringere," meaning "to break off, break, bruise, weaken, destroy." That Latin verb is built from "in," meaning "in," and "frangere," meaning "to break." The root "frangere" also gave English "fracture" and "fragile," so "infringe" belongs to a family of words all built around the idea of something breaking. The modern sense of violating a law or rule grows out of the Latin image of breaking something, as if the rule were snapped or trampled underfoot.

Synonyms: violated, transgressed, breached, encroached, trespassed

Antonyms: obeyed, respected, upheld, followed, complied