INDEX:
1. to betray a friend or someone who trusts you
2. to betray your country
3. to betray your beliefs or principles
4. someone who betrays their country
RELATED WORDS
not faithful to someone you have a sexual relationship with : ↑ SEX
see also
↑ LOYAL/NOT LOYAL
↑ TRUST/NOT TRUST
◆◆◆
1. to betray a friend or someone who trusts you
▷ betray /bɪˈtreɪ/ [transitive verb]
to be disloyal to your friends or to someone who trusts you, often causing serious harm to them as a result :
▪ He betrayed his friends in order to save his own life.
betray somebody to the police/government etc
give the police etc information about someone
▪ Olga’s best friend betrayed her to the secret police.
betray somebody’s trust/confidence/friendship etc
betray someone who trusts you
▪ I still have bitter feelings for Robert. What can I say? He completely betrayed my trust.
feel betrayed
feel that someone you trust has betrayed you
▪ When I heard what she had said about me I felt angry and betrayed.
betrayal [singular/uncountable noun]
when someone betrays another person: :
▪ a powerful story of love and betrayal set in the tranquil world of Cambridge University
▪ The family regard her marriage to a non-Muslim as a betrayal.
betrayal of somebody’s trust/friendship/confidence etc
▪ What Evans did amounts to a betrayal of the trust placed in him by the company.
▷ stab somebody in the back /ˌstæb somebody ɪn ðə ˈbæk/ [verb phrase]
to betray someone who trusts you, especially someone that you work with, by saying or doing something that will cause them a lot of harm and get you an advantage :
▪ He seems friendly, but he wouldn’t hesitate to stab you in the back if he thought it would help him get your job.
▪ Thatcher was stabbed in the back by her former friends and colleagues in the Conservative Party.
backstabbing /ˈbækˌstæbɪŋ/ [uncountable noun]
▪ I’m not sorry to be away from the gossip and backstabbing of the office.
▷ sell somebody down the river /ˌsel somebody daʊn ðə ˈrɪvəʳ/ [verb phrase]
to betray a group of people who trusted you to help them, in order to gain money or power for yourself :
▪ The workers were promised that they would not lose their jobs as a result of the merger. Later they found out that they had been sold down the river.
▷ treachery /ˈtretʃəri/ [uncountable noun]
great disloyalty to someone who trusts you, for example by secretly tricking them, or helping their enemies :
▪ When the king learned of his brother’s treachery, he quickly ordered his execution.
▪ After a furious argument during which he accused the prime minister of treachery, he announced that he would resign his Cabinet position.
2. to betray your country
▷ betray /bɪˈtreɪ/ [transitive verb]
to be disloyal to your country, for example by helping its enemies or giving them secret information :
▪ The former federal agent betrayed his country and gave away vital military secrets.
betrayal /bɪˈtreɪəl/ [countable/uncountable noun]
act of betrayal
▪ Paisley described government plans to separate Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom as an act of betrayal.
▷ collaborate /kəˈlæbəreɪt/ [intransitive verb]
to betray your country by helping its enemies when they have defeated your country and taken control of it :
▪ Those suspected of collaborating during the occupation were tried and shot
collaborate with
▪ He was imprisoned in 1945 for collaborating with the enemy.
collaboration /kəˌlæbəˈreɪʃ ə n/ [uncountable noun]
▪ Newly-released records show there was extensive collaboration with the occupying army.
▷ treason /ˈtriːz ə n/ [uncountable noun]
the crime of betraying your country by helping its enemies :
▪ Fleming was flown to Washington and tried for treason.
commit treason
▪ All five of the men will be charged with committing treason against the state.
3. to betray your beliefs or principles
▷ betray /bɪˈtreɪ/ [transitive verb]
to behave in a way that is completely against your beliefs or principles, so that people think you have given them up completely :
▪ The new government has betrayed the ideals of the revolution.
▪ Greene was denounced for betraying his Catholic beliefs and siding with the Communists.
▷ sell out /ˌsel ˈaʊt/ [intransitive phrasal verb]
to behave in a way that is completely against what you have said are your beliefs or principles, especially in order to get advantages for yourself in politics :
▪ When the Socialists changed their policy on nuclear weapons they were accused of selling out.
▪ Many of the radicals of the 1960s sold out - they became accountants and salesmen.
sell-out /ˈsel aʊt/ [singular noun]
▪ Anti-nuclear campaigners are calling the president’s acceptance of nuclear testing a complete sell-out.
▪ The settlement of the dispute was a sell-out, leaving the miners worse off than they were before.
4. someone who betrays their country
▷ traitor /ˈtreɪtəʳ/ [countable noun]
someone who helps the enemies of their country, for example by giving them secret information :
▪ At the end of the war Mata Hari was hanged as a traitor.
traitor to
▪ When he left Nicaragua for the US, he was denounced as a traitor to the revolution.
turn traitor
become a traitor
▪ Zaragoza turned traitor when he thought the Republicans would lose the war.
▷ collaborator /kəˈlæbəreɪtəʳ/ [countable noun]
someone who helps their country’s enemies, especially when the enemy has taken control of that country :
▪ Women who were suspected of collaborating had their heads shaved in public.
collaborator with
▪ His father had been accused of collaborating with the CIA.