betray

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"I loathe the very word betray--spoken or intended.

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Definitions (21)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. transitive verb To give aid or information to an enemy of; commit treason against: betray one's country.
  2. transitive verb To deliver into the hands of an enemy in violation of a trust or allegiance: betrayed Christ to the Romans.
  3. transitive verb To be false or disloyal to: betrayed their cause; betray one's better nature.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (7)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Seeing that, Kenjo turned his head away, careful not to let his expression betray the satisfaction he felt at the revelation that his copilot, too, was experiencing tension. —  Dragons Dawn
  • Only for an instant did Blake's expression betray what he felt upon seeing Katherine, who did not see his face quicken or the admiration which shone fleetingly in his eyes.
  • Tears rose in his eyes And a hope sweet and strange in his heart seem'd to rise The truth which he saw not the first time he read That letter, he now saw--that each word betray'd The love which the writer had sought to conceal His love was received not, he could not but feel For one reason alone,--that his love was not free True! —  Lucile
  • I could guess at the heartache that gentle face would not betray, the longing those tender lips would not speak, the grief those sweet eyes studied to conceal. —  The Trail of '98 A Northland Romance
  • "It is only that I am so anxious for him to recover And do you another ill turn, Dale--betray us once more No, no, it isn't that." —  Sail Ho! A Boy at Sea
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Used in the same contextWord Family

betray:   betraying ·  betrayed ·  betrays
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English bitrayen : bi-, be- + trayen, to betray (from Old French trair, from Latin trādere, to hand over; see tradition).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English betrayen, betrain, from be- + traien, betray, from Old French traïr, French trahir, from Latin tradere, deliver, give over: see traitor, treason, tradition. The form of betray was influenced by that of bewray, a quite different word.
 

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/bəˈtreɪ/
by American Heritage

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