breach of decorum

breach of decorum

A violation of established social norms or expectations, especially as relates to polite society or specific professions. In an unexpected breach of decorum, she announced her candidacy before the governor officially resigned. Discussing personal problems can sometimes be seen as a breach of decorum in polite company.
See also: breach, of
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • breach
  • breach of etiquette
  • inviting
  • big break
  • (are) you leaving so soon?
  • Leaving so soon?
  • I'll thank you to (do something)
  • I'll thank you to do something
  • get with the times
  • crunch numbers
References in classic literature
If there were any thing to extenuate this breach of decorum by Maria, it was the manner in which it was effected.
'You hear him?' John, who was greatly shocked at this breach of decorum, clapped his finger to his nose, and shook his head in mute remonstrance.
The past several days witnessed a debate in Washington over Trump's tweets, Tuesday's debate in the Democratic-controlled chamber was a highly polarised debate, with various Republicans insisting the vote itself was a breach of decorum.
DC Tauseef Dilshad Kathana had expressed annoyance with District Police Officer (DPO) retired Capt Rommel Akram over police's breach of decorum of his office.
I can't help but wonder when I see you looking there, with a little smirk, how many times did you look so innocent into you wife's eye and lied to her about Lisa --" Gohmert was then cut off by the howls from Democratic members, which included one encouraging Gohmert to take "medication." The audible interjection from Democrats was a rare breach of decorum within the formality of Congress.
Guided in part by the aggressive committee chairman, Republican Devin Nunes (Republican-Tulare), the investigation largely broke down in crude partisan infighting, marking a rare breach of decorum and tradition on a panel that conducts oversight of the nation's intelligence community to prevent government abuses.
Photography and video taken from the House floor is already considered a breach of decorum for representatives, and public broadcasts through C-SPAN have (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/06/22/heres-why-you-cant-watch-house-democrats-sit--c-span/86249466/) previously been cut off by both parties-last summer's sit-in simply represented the first such incident in the age of live streaming.
We now know that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was alerted to this breach of decorum and lack of judgment on the part of the head of the nation's spooks by a second woman, Jill Kelley, who was a volunteer military liaison and family friend of the Petraeus clan.
As Stephen Puleo relates in this gripping, richly detailed, and well-written account of nineteenth-century America on the cusp of Civil War, the caning of Charles Sumner was an act of unparalleled brutality, a shocking breach of decorum, and the defining moment when North and South recognized "they could no longer rationally discuss their sharp differences of opinion regarding slavery."
House Republicans are nervous about any breach of decorum. They share control of the House with Democrats, and the loss of a single seat in November would cost Republicans their only real leverage in Salem.
Totally unfazed by this breach of decorum, Her Majesty inclined her head slightly in acknowledgement and then was gone, through the opposite door--but not before passing the members of staff seated on the front row.
When first encountered decades back, the photographs represented an unthinkable breach of decorum meant to liberate a stunned German bourgeoisie from the hypnotic grasp of the Wirtschaftswunmder.
At the same time, the English upper crust here behaves as if the last 50 years hadn't happened, so flustered is everyone by even the slightest breach of decorum.
A short final chapter looks in particular at Guyon's encounter with Amavia in Book Two and at the biblical technique of tapinosis, "a breach of decorum between image and meaning" (174).
As it continues, Puttenham shows how the man's breach of decorum was corrected and forgiven by the Queen: "Her Maistie laughed as she had bene tickled, and [so did] all the rest of the company[,] although very graciously (as her m anner is) she gaue him great thankes and her hand to kisse" (266).