honor in the breach
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A rule or law is more often disobeyed than obeyed
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Quy tắc hoặc luật thường bị vi phạm hơn là tuân thủ
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: respect in the violation
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The speed limit is honor in the breach on this highway
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “honor in the breach” mean?
A rule or law is more often disobeyed than obeyed Literally: respect in the violation
Is “honor in the breach” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.