Betray

/bɪˈtɹeɪ/ · verb

Meaning

(transitive) To deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly..

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive) To deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly.
2. (transitive) To prove faithless or treacherous to, as to a trust or one who trusts; to be false to; to deceive.
3. (transitive) To violate the confidence of, by disclosing a secret, or that which one is bound in honor not to make known.
4. (transitive) To disclose (a secret, etc.) in deliberate violation of someone’s confidence.
5. (transitive) To disclose or indicate, for example something which prudence would conceal; to reveal unintentionally.
6. (transitive) To mislead; to expose to inconvenience not foreseen; to lead into error or sin.
7. (transitive) To lead astray; to seduce (as under promise of marriage) and then abandon.

Example Sentences

An officer betrayed the city.

He betrayed his own sister to the secret police.

to betray a person or a cause

Quresh betrayed Sunil to marry Nuzhat.

My eyes have been betraying me since I turned sixty.

I maruell I heare no nevves of Dromio, either hee ſlackes the matter, or betrayes his maiſter, I dare not motion anie thing to Stellio, till I knovve vvhat my boy hath don; Ile hunt him out, if the loiterſacke be gone ſpringing into a tauerne, Ile fetch him reeling out.

The dead leap at the throat, destroy The meaning of the day; dark forms Have scaled your walls, and spies betray Old secrets to amorphous swarms.

Though he had lived in England for many years, a faint accent betrayed his Swedish origin.

Synonyms for betray

Antonyms for betray

Related Words

Word Forms

• betrays
• betraying
• betrayed

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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