Treason definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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Definitions (15)

American Heritage Dictionary (2)

noun 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.
noun A betrayal of trust or confidence.

Century Dictionary (9)

A betraying; treachery; breach of faith. The false Genelon, He that purchased the treson Of [i. e., toward] Rowland and of Olivere. Chaucer, Death of Blanche, l. 1122. He that did by treason work our fall By treason hath delivered thee to us. Marlowe, Jew of Malta, v. 4. Britton … more clearly states the idea of “betrayal” as distinct from that of “lese-majesty,” and includes in treason any mischief done to one to whom the doer represents himself as a friend. Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 463.
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 against any other superior, as a master, etc., and called petit treason or petty treason. Various offenses falling far short of what is now deemed treason, such as counterfeiting money, were so considered. By modern law in England treason, more specifically called high treason, includes such offenses as imagining the king's (or queen's) death (that is, proposing to kill, maim, or restrain him), or levying war against him, adhering to his enemies, killing his wife or eldest son or heir, violating his wife or daughter or heir's wife, or killing the chancellor, treasurer, or a justice in office. Treason against the United States consists only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, or in giving their enemies aid and comfort; treason against a State is generally defined as consisting in hostility to a State only. The former punishment for treason in England was that the condemned should be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution, and there be hanged and disemboweled alive, and then beheaded and quartered; and a conviction was followed by forfeiture of land and goods, and attainder of blood; but the penalty is now hanging. Those that care to keep your royal person From treason's secret knife and traitor's rage. Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 1. 174. Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason. Sir John Harington, Of Treason. Treason is a breach of allegiance, and can be committed by him only who owes allegiance, either perpetual or temporary. Marshall.
Constructive treason anything which, though lacking treasonable intent, is declared by law to be treason and punishable as such. Numerous acts suggestive of disaffection were formerly punished as constructive treason upon the pretext that they were in law equivalent to actual treason. Hence the provision of the Constitution of the United States (Art. III. § 3), according to which “Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.” Lord George Gordon was thrown into the Tower, and was tried before Lord Mansfield on the charge of high treason for levying war upon the Crown. The charge was what is termed by lawyers constructive treason. It rested upon the assertion that the agitation which he had created and led was the originating cause of the out-rages that had taken place. Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., xiii.

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[108] Nothing is recorded officially of any bribe from France, but the fact of "one million of gold" having been promised as the wages of their treason is asserted by historians. — The Project Gutenberg eBook of Henri of Monmouth Vol. II by J. Endell Tyler
Travelling half way around the world, the word treason has been employed, but in a much different case. — matthewgood.org
This would be flimflam but it wouldn't be treason, which is what your post suggests. — One Thousand Reasons
Doing so while assuming Americans would pick up the tab for your treason is adding insult to injury ... literally. — Original Signal - Transmitting Buzz
LAST i checked bribery is and should be a hanging offense or life in prison of a federal official and might even if your a foreign person be a kind of treason, abolishing these lobbying rules of large corporate entities should be a top priority of any democratic govt but it aint gonna happen when ya get a pittance form taxpayers compared to the scam money they give you — p2pnet news

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treachery · perjury · robbery · conspiracy · injustice · rebellion · ingratitude · wickedness · disobedience · mutiny · heresy · murder

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)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Middle English, from Anglo-Norman treson, from Latin trāditiō, trāditiōn-, a handing over; see tradition.

Century Dictionary (1)

from Middle English treson, tresun, treisun, traisoun, trayson, from O F. trahison, traisson, traison, French trahison =Provencal traicio, traazo, tracio, trassio =Spanish traicion =Portuguese traição, from Latin tradition (n-), a giving up, surrender, delivery, tradition, from tradere, past participle traditus, give up, deliver over, betray: see tradition, of which treason is a doublet.

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