infraction
Americannoun
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infractions
plural
-
breach; violation; infringement.
an infraction of the rules.
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Medicine/Medical. an incomplete fracture of a bone.
Synonym Usage
See breach.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of infraction
First recorded in 1615–25, infraction is from the Latin word infrāctiōn- (stem of infrāctiō ). See infract, -ion
Explanation
When you break school rules about gum chewing, you commit an infraction. An infraction is a petty crime or a minor breaking of rules. When you think of the word infraction, think that your offence has just crossed the line into wrong. Something like a parking ticket is an infraction. When you commit an infraction, you're not knee deep in wrong, you've just dipped your toe into wrong to see what it feels like. A misdemeanor is a more serious crime such as theft, and murder is considered a felony, the most serious of crimes.
Vocabulary lists containing infraction
The Giver
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Give Me a Break!: Fract and Frag
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Tangerine
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Thomas explained that illegally parking in a bike lane has always been an infraction, and this system is just helping to hold citizens accountable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Maradona scored two goals that day: one with his fist, an infraction that was missed by the referee, and another by dancing past five English defenders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
But Mr. Trump called on his experience as a TV sports viewer to declare that he didn’t think Mr. Balogun’s infraction “was a foul” at all, and “I’m good at this stuff.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
Paraguay’s Miguel Almirón was the first player to get a red card for the infraction against Turkey earlier in the World Cup.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Then it noted the infraction in my employee data file.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Those caught breaking the law face fixed penalty notices of £200 for a minor breach and criminal prosecution for more serious infractions.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
During the 2021-22 school year, before its wide-scale adoption of restorative justice, this district of roughly 20,000 students had almost 2,500 instances of violence, bullying and weapons infractions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Fines for such infractions in West Newport Beach and the Peninsula — dubbed safety enhancement zones — will be tripled from July 3 through July 6.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2026
And EPA data shows that its pattern of reported infractions has continued in recent years.
From Salon ● May 10, 2026
“The Thunderhead sees just about everything, what with cameras everywhere. But it also decides what infractions are worth the effort to address and which ones are not.”
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
