Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Violation of allegiance toward one's country or sovereign, especially the betrayal of one's country by waging war against it or by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies.
- n. A betrayal of trust or confidence.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A betraying; treachery; breach of faith.
- n. Specifically—2. Violation by a subject of his allegiance to his sovereign or liege lord, or to the chief authority of the state. In old English law it was against the king or supreme power of the state, and more specifically called
high treason , or - n. Synonyms See perfidious.
Wiktionary
- n. The crime of betraying one’s own country.
- n. Providing aid and comfort to the enemy.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The offense of attempting to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance, or of betraying the state into the hands of a foreign power; disloyalty; treachery.
- n. Loosely, the betrayal of any trust or confidence; treachery; perfidy.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a crime that undermines the offender's government
- n. disloyalty by virtue of subversive behavior
- n. an act of deliberate betrayal
Etymologies
- From Middle English tresoun, treison, from Anglo-Norman treson, from Old French traïson ("treason"), from Latin trāditiōnem, accusative of trāditiō ("a giving up, handing over, surrender, delivery, tradition"), from trādō ("give up, hand over, deliver over, betray", v), from trāns (“over, across”) + dō (“give”). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Anglo-Norman treson, from Latin trāditiō, trāditiōn-, a handing over; see tradition. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Firstly I would using say that the term treason is highly inappropiate and irresponsible.”
“And to call it treason is to rob the word of all meaning.”
“Perry's very loose and dangerous use of the term "treason" is something that brought him criticism from many corners - just not Republican primary voters.”
“We find by experience, that it punishes them very freely for what it calls treason and rebellion, which, it seems, according to this system, reduces itself to common injustice.”
“That deserves its own form of recognition in law, and 'treason' is the offense which best captures it.”
“Technically a country can be treasonous because the primary definition of "treason" is "the betrayal of a trust.”
“It all depends what your definition of "treason" is ...”
“The least loyalty we can have, to avoid being accessory to treason, is to take the side of fellow citizens when foreigners increase the level of aggression, and do it here, inside the borders.”
DeLong on Borjas on Immigration, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“Strict, treason is an extremely serious charge, and it should never be made lightly.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Andrew McCarthy Sticks to His Guns (And He May Be Pointing Them at You Next)
“Accusing lawyers of treason is a slippery slope, and we saw it play out in India last month when the foremost defense attorney for prisoners accused of treason and terrorism was murdered ...”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Andrew McCarthy Sticks to His Guns (And He May Be Pointing Them at You Next)
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘treason’.
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JURI - courtroom speak
Legal glossary with special focus on courtroom vocabulary
accused, acquittal, ADA, adjournment, adjudication, affidavit, affirmed, aggravated range, aggravating factors, allegation, alleged, answer and 794 more...
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Official Misconduct
Words describing types of misconduct by those in public office.
malversation, embezzlement, peculation, racketeering, jobbery, misappropriation, defalcation, venality, favouritism, favoritism, nepotism, gerrymandering and 44 more...
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Ending
satan, treason, foreign tension, blacken, reason, hidden, intentions, fallen demon, diction, slogan, jargon, sermon and 27 more...
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Odd Anagrams
Sets of anagrams that have contrasting or related meanings.
casual, causal, parental, paternal, prenatal, atoners, senator, treason, listen, silent, dictionary, indicatory and 110 more...
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This week's words
hand-handled, crouch, hootchy-kootchy, gloriole, glory hole, metempsychosis, doctrinaire, transmigration, celestial, treetop, luxuriant, physic and 102 more...
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Vocab
Words that I come across, and go blank, or want to clarify.
nefarious, edifice, malevolent, ostensible, folderol, bauble, livid, amnesty, calculus, saddlery, maisonette, cuisse and 423 more...
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nominative case collection
wine stopper, pyre, roster, hamper, moleskin, elastic, pinnacle, facsimile, nook, plonk, contortionist, dismay and 342 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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Revised GRE Wordlist_2013
Vocabulary building for my quest of GRE 2013
ephemeral, esoteric, rhetoric, censure, egregious, pittance, dupe, mulct, paucity, alacrity, maintain, laconic and 997 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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Word of the day.
Some days, there will be a word. That word is the word of the day. Other days shall remain wordless. That's just the way things go.
petulant, anisometropia, zoroaster, cram, affinity, proprietary, cupertino effect, sidereal, schmutz, icosanoids, vendetta, bougie and 137 more...
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monica's list
just words i think are pretty.
luminous, iridescent, crestfallen, wanderlust, autumn, autumnal, spark, candescence, exaltations, merry, empathy, tainted and 96 more...
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Legislationie: The Habeas Corpus Act ...
An act for the better securing the liberty of the subject, and for prevention of imprisonments beyond the seas.
WHEREAS great delays have been used by sheriffs, gaolers and other offi...of the peace, the hand and seal of, signed and sealed, jurisdiction, hath, order, recognizances, cognizable, properly, city, county, gaol-delivery and 120 more...
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Reading Random
Got unknown words randomly
delinquency, modicum, dissuade, incendiary, destitute, lachrymose, plight, ruse, empirical, pedantic, demography, giggle and 444 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, T
torquate, thalassocracy, toothsome, travois, tempestuous, tone, tincture, tripwire, tether, trill, tenacious, travesty and 355 more...
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My Modern Job in the Past
Words I come across at work.
Now stripped of most military terms, which have found a new home on the list Historical Military Terms of Interest. See also (and add to!) hilarious misspe...chaise-marine, delft, delftware, quince, tympan, cresset, navvy, venn diagram, poop deck, apothecary, heliotrope, millinery and 294 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for treason.
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