Meaning & use
betrayal
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
An act of being disloyal to someone who trusted you, such as breaking a promise or giving away a secret.
Grammar: Countable for a single act (a terrible betrayal) and uncountable for the idea (betrayal hurts).
Patterns
- betrayal of someone
- a betrayal by someone
She felt the betrayal deeply when her friend leaked the secret.
His betrayal of the team cost them the contract.
Betrayal is hard to forgive.
nouncountable or uncountableformal
Failure to keep to a principle, duty or hope that people had relied on.
Grammar: Followed by of and an idea: a betrayal of democratic values.
Patterns
- betrayal of something
Critics called the policy a betrayal of the party's ideals.
Cutting the funding was seen as a betrayal of the promise to students.
Word forms
| plural | betrayals |
|---|
Common combinations
- a sense of betrayal
- She had a sense of betrayal after the lies.
- act of betrayal
- Sharing the plans was an act of betrayal.
- feel betrayal
- He felt betrayal when he read the message.
- betrayal of trust
- Lying to patients is a betrayal of trust.
- ultimate betrayal
- Many saw the move as the ultimate betrayal.
Synonyms and how they differ
- treachery
- Treachery is more formal and often suggests serious deceit such as treason.
- disloyalty
- Disloyalty is a general lack of faithfulness, while betrayal is a specific act that harms.
- double-cross
- Double-cross is informal and implies a planned trick against a partner.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: betrayal or treason?
betrayal vs treason
Betrayal can be personal; treason is the legal crime of betraying your country.
Practice
Telling a rival company your employer's secret plans is a ____ of trust.
Choose one answer.
Betrayal is disloyalty to someone who trusted you. The other nouns do not describe harming that trust.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “betrayal”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.