honored in the breach
honored in the breach is the simple past and past participle of honor in the breach.
Meaning of honor in the breach
Verb
honor in the breach (third-person singular simple present honors in the breach, present participle honoring in the breach, simple past and past participle honored in the breach)
- To demonstrate (a rule, law, or policy) by breaking or breaching it.
- Hamlet: Ay, marry, is't:
But to my mind, though I am native here
And to the manner born, it is a custom
More honour'd in the breach than the observance.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- Hamlet: Ay, marry, is't:
Questions about honored in the breach
- What is honored in the breach the simple past and past participle of?
- Honored in the breach is the simple past and past participle of honor in the breach.
Words near honored in the breach in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: honored in the breach (page history and authors); honor in the breach (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “honored in the breach.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/honored_in_the_breach. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.