Etymology

violate

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Today it means: To break or disregard (a rule or convention). Full definition →

Middle English violaten
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violate · verb1

  1. Middle English · inherited fromviolaten“to defile, render impure”
  2. English todayviolate

From Middle English violaten (“to defile, render impure”), from violat(e) (“defiled, desecrated”, also used as the past participle of violaten) + -en, borrowed from Latin violātus, perfect passive participle of violō (“to treat with violence (whether bodily or mental)”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Ultimately from vīs (“strength, power, force, violence”).

violate · adjective2

  1. Classical Latin · derived fromviolātus
  2. Middle English · inherited fromviolat
  3. English todayviolate

From Middle English violat, from Classical Latin violātus.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.