infringe
verb/ɪnˈfɹɪnd͡ʒ/
Etymology Borrowed from Latin īnfringō, īnfringere (“to break off, break, bruise, weaken, destroy”), from in (“in”) + frangere (“to break”).
1
To break or violate a treaty, a law, a right, etc.
- Near-synonym: flout
- The patent situation, too, played a part in this, as often a firm sought to produce something which would achieve a given result, and yet not infringe a patent held by another; or a railway engineer would think of a device of his own that would free him of obligation to some manufacturer.1951, T. S. Lascelles, “British Railway Signalling Since 1925”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 226:
1 more example
- According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:
2
To break in or encroach on something.
- Near-synonym: impinge
- infringing on my personal freedom
1 more example
- A well regulated Militia, being neceſsary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.1789, Second Amendment to the United States Constitution:
3
Dated To furnish or embellish with a fringe.
- Derived terms
- infringeable, infringed, infringee, infringement, infringer
- Related terms
- infraction