treason
/ˈtɹiː.zən/ noun
Forms treasons
- noun The crime of betraying one’s own country.
- noun An act of treachery, betrayal of trust or confidence.
Synonyms
perfidiousness perfidy treacherousness treachery betrayal breach of promise breach of trust double-dealing Judas kiss prodition Punic faith stab in the back swike tergiversation traitory high treason lese majesty subversiveness traitorousness
Etymology
From Middle English tresoun, treison, from Anglo-Norman treson, from Old French traïson (“treason”), from trair, or from Latin trāditiō (“a giving up, handing over, surrender, delivery, tradition”), from trādō (“give up, hand over, deliver over, betray”, verb), from trāns- (“over, across”) + dō (“give”). Doublet of tradition and traitor; also related to betray.
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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.
- noun Loosely, the betrayal of any trust or confidence; treachery; perfidy.
Etymology [OE. tresun, treisun, traisoun, OF. traïson, F. trahison, L. traditio a giving up, a delivering up, fr. tradere to give up, betray. See Traitor, and cf. Tradition.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “treason”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details