violate

English

Etymology

From Latin violātus, past participle of violāre (“treat with violence, whether bodily or mental”), from vīs (“strength, power, force, violence”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvaɪəˌleɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

violate (third-person singular simple present violates, present participle violating, simple past and past participle violated)

1. (transitive) To break or disregard (a rule or convention).

   Antonyms: comply, obey

   Drinking-and-driving violates the law.

   Accessing unauthorized files violates security protocol.

2. (transitive) To rape.
   • 1796, Matthew Gregory Lewis, The Monk:

     That Antonia whom you violated, was your Sister! That Elvira whom you murdered, gave you birth! Tremble, abandoned Hypocrite! Inhuman Parricide! Incestuous Ravisher!

3. (transitive, prison slang) To cite (a person) for a parole violation.
   • 2009, Shakti Belway, Bearing Witness, page 12:

     If you don't have a job, you can't pay the money, then you get violated and have to go back to prison.

   • 2014, Juanita Díaz-Cotto, Chicana Lives and Criminal Justice: Voices from El Barrio, page 165:

     Estela: Well, they'd take me to jail, I'd violate, and I go to prison. And maybe I get violated for six months, eight months . . . maybe 30 days, 60 days . . . You know, whatever the parole officer recommended for me, I got.

Derived terms

• violable
• violative

Related terms

• violation

Translations

Further reading

• “violate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “violate”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vi.oˈla.te/, /vjoˈla.te/
• Rhymes: -ate
• Hyphenation: vi‧o‧là‧te, vio‧là‧te

Etymology 1

Verb

violate

1. inflection of violare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

violate f pl

1. feminine plural of violato

References

Anagrams

• elativo, evitalo, levatoi, olivate, oliveta, voliate

Latin

Verb

violāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of violō

Spanish

Verb

violate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of violar combined with te