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 government.
- 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
- Middle English, from Anglo-Norman treson, from Latin trāditiō, trāditiōn-, a handing over; see tradition.
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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Courtroom Speak
Legal glossary with special focus on courtroom vocabulary
writ of execution, writ of certiorari, witness, waiver, warrant, voir dire, victim witness as..., writ, victim compensati..., verdict, venue, victim advocate and 792 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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