A secondary break or rupture that occurs after an initial breach, or the act of breaking something again.
Compound of 'after' and 'breach' (from Old Norse brekka, 'to break'). A rarely used technical term in engineering and geology contexts.
In dam engineering, afterbreaches are catastrophic—if a first breach isn't sealed quickly, the pressure can cause additional, larger breaches downstream, turning a manageable problem into a disaster. This is why dam failures often happen in stages.
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