betray
Verb
Verb Forms: betrayed, betraying, betrays
- To be disloyal or unfaithful to.
- reveal unintentionally
- "Her smile betrayed her true feelings"
- deliver to an enemy by treachery
- "The spy betrayed his country"
- disappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake
- be sexually unfaithful to one's partner in marriage
- give away information about somebody
- cause someone to believe an untruth
- To deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly.
- To prove faithless or treacherous to, as to a trust or one who trusts; to be false to; to deceive.
- To violate the confidence of, by disclosing a secret, or that which one is bound in honor not to make known.
- To disclose (a secret, etc.) in deliberate violation of someone’s confidence.
- To disclose or indicate, for example something which prudence would conceal; to reveal unintentionally.
- To mislead; to expose to inconvenience not foreseen; to lead into error or sin.
- To lead astray; to seduce (as under promise of marriage) and then abandon.
Examples
- An officer betrayed the city.
- My eyes have been betraying me since I turned sixty.
- My own tiles betray me, offering no combination over ten points.
- Quresh betrayed Sunil to marry Nuzhat.
- Though he had lived in England for many years, a faint accent betrayed his Swedish origin.
- to betray a person or a cause
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English betrayen, bitrayen (“to commit an act of treason against”), equivalent to be- + tray (“to betray”).
further etymology information
Middle English bi- is from Old English be- (“be-”), from Proto-Germanic *bi- (“be-”), from Proto-Germanic *bi (“near, by”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi (“at, near”). Compare also traitor, treason, tradition. The modern sense “to disclose, discover, reveal unintentionally” is due to influence from or merger with English bewray (“to reveal, divulge”), which is similar in sound and meaning. The similarity with German betrügen, Dutch bedriegen, from Proto-West Germanic *bidreugan (“to betray, deceive”), is coincidental.
Synonyms
bewray, cheat, cheat on, cuckold, deceive, denounce, fail, give away, grass, lead astray, rat, sell, shit, shop, snitch, stag, tell on, wander
Antonyms
Scrabble Score: 11
betray: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordbetray: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
betray: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary