Betray

Definition: Betray

Betray

Verb

1. Reveal unintentionally; "Her smile betrayed her true feelings".

2. Deliver to an enemy by treachery; "Judas sold Jesus"; "The spy betrayed his country".

3. Disappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake; "His sense of smell failed him this time"; "His strength finally failed him"; "His children failed him in the crisis".

4. Be sexually unfaithful to one's partner in marriage; "She cheats on her husband"; "Might her husband be wandering?".

5. Give away information about somebody; "He told on his classmate who had cheated on the exam".

6. Cause someone to believe an untruth; "The insurance company deceived me when they told me they were covering my house".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "betray" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Synonyms: Betray

Deception

Lie; misinform; mislead; (error); betray; be deceived.

Disclosure

Divulge, reveal, break; squeal, tattle, sing, rat, snitch; let into the secret; reveal the secrets of the prison house; tell; (inform); breathe, utter, blab, peach; let out, let fall, let drop, let slip, spill the beans, let the cat out of the bag; betray; tell tales, come out of school; come out with; give vent, give utterance to; open the lips, blurt out, vent, whisper about; speak out; (make manifest); make public; unriddle; (find out) a; split.

Improbity

Verb: be dishonest; Adjective: play false; break one's word, break one's faith, break one's promise; jilt, betray, forswear; shuffle; (lie); live by one's wits, sail near the wind.

Malevolence

Verb: be malevolent; Adjective: bear spleen, harbor spleen, bear a grudge, harbor a grudge, bear malice; betray the cloven foot, show the cloven foot.

Crosswords: Betray

You know, that was the hardest part about having to betray you, grinning like an idiot every fifteen minutes (Mission: Impossible II; writing credit: Bruce Geller; Ronald D. Moore)

Master betray us. (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; writing credit: Frances Walsh)

They'll betray you. (Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones; writing credit: George Lucas)

Phil, I can't betray my daughter, I can't betray Richard (The Fugitive; writing credit: Allan Burns; Chris Hayward)

We will betray you. We are Borg (Star Trek: Voyager; writing credit: Douglas Day Stewart)

Unholy shall be our way, never shall we betray. (One With Darkness; performing artist: Cher)

A friend who won't betray (Adia; performing artist: Sarah McLachlan)

My Lips Betray (1933)

When Men Betray (1928)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• All Things Betray Thee: The Life and Times of a Liverpool Sailor (reference)

• Did I Betray the Gospel?: The Letters of Paul and the Place of Women (Risk Book Series) (reference)

• Sex in the Forbidden Zone: When Men in Power - Therapists, Doctors, Clergy, Teachers, and Others - Betray Women's Trust (reference)

• To Love, Honor and Betray [ABRIDGED] (reference)

• Tu Rostro Manana (Fiebre y Lanza) / You Will Betray Me Tomorrow (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• Words Betray (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

To which, if one shall add rewards and punishments visibly employed to the same end, and all the arts of perverted law made use of, to take off and destroy all that stand in the way of such a design, and will not comply and consent to betray the liberties of their country, it will be past doubt what is doing. (Second Treatise of Government)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

To speak, she was sure would be to betray a most unreasonable degree of happiness

I deem it not likely that he will betray the secret

When he was down they turned on him to betray him and rend him like rats in a sewer

Wouldst thou betray me

The volatile truth of our words should continually betray the inadequacy of the residual statement

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Civil Liberties

Poland

The law allows for the prosecution of citizens who publish or otherwise betray state secrets. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Expressions using "betray": betray a secret ♦ betray one's trust ♦ betray oneself ♦ betray smb.'s trust ♦ betray the cloven foot. Additional references.

Albanian

tradhtoj (double cross, fool about, fool around, go back on, quisle, rat, sell out, two time), shes (bargain away, barter away, dispose of, flog, handle, market, negotiate, realize, sell, vend), gaboj (cheat, deceive, delude, disappoint, err, fraud, lapse, let down, make a mistake, mistake, seduce, swindle). (various references)

Arabic 

‏فضح سرك, ‏غرر, ‏ضلل (astrict, beguile, deceive, delude, inveigle, misguide, mislead), ‏خان (double cross, false, hotel, inn, khan, play false, rat, renegade, sell out, split, squeal, two time), ‏خدع (bamboozle, beguile, bilk, bitch, bite, blind, bluff, brown, bubble, camouflage, catch, cheat, chisel, con, crook, deceive, deception, decoy, defraud, delude, diddle, do, dupe, entrap, fall for, feint, fiddle, fob, fool, fox, get round, give the lie to, gull, gyp, hoax, hocus pocus, humbug, illusory, impose, intrigue, jape, job, leg pull, lure, mislead, mock, mystify, nick, overreach, pitch, play a trick, pose, prank, pull a fast one, pull his leg, ream, rook, sell, settle his hash, skin, skunk, slang, stick, string along, swank, swindle, take for a ride, take in, trick, victimize, wile), ‏أفشى سرا (blab, disclose, divulge, expose, let on, repeat). (various references)

Bulgarian 

изменям (alter, amend, double cross, fail, modulate, mutate, renegade, shoot down, sophisticate, turn traitor), издавам (bring out, condemn, delate, denounce, disclose, divulge, emit, enact, give, give away, hand down, issue, leak, loose, proclaim, produce, publish, put forth, put out, send forth, spill, stick out, throw out, utter). (various references)

Chinese 

背叛 (forsake). (various references)

Czech

zradit (desert, fink, flimflam, rat, sell), vyzradit (divulge), vydat (bring out, disburse, edit, expend, extradite, get out, hand over, issue, outlay, release, render, surrender), prozradit (disclose, divulge, give away, leak, reveal), podvádìt (deceive, double cross, finagle, juggle, mock, sharp, trick). (various references)

Dutch

laten merken, in de steek laten (abandon, desert, forsake, leave, quit). (various references)

Esperanto

perfidi. (various references)

Farsi 

فاش کردن (Babble, Disclose, Divulge, Giveaway, Manifest, Peach, Reveal, Squeal, Tattle, Tell, Uncloak, Unfold, Utter), تسلیم دشمن کردن , خیانت کردن به (Belie). (various references)

Finnish

pettää (cheat, deceive, delude, let down). (various references)

French

trahir. (various references)

Frisian

ferriede. (various references)

German

verraten (bespeak, blow, give away, let out, reveal, sell). (various references)

Greek 

προδίδω (bespeak, give away, sell out, shop, squeal). (various references)

Hebrew 

לשקר (deceive, fib, lie, swindle), ל�"לשין (calumniate, inform against, nark, slander, sneak, tell on, tell tales), ל�'לות סו�" (confide, divulge, give away, let on, let the cat out of the bag, spill the beans, telltale), לב�'ו�" (deceive, double cross, play false, renegade, sell out). (various references)

Hungarian

elárul (disembosom, let on, to betray, to disclose, to display, to let on, to let out, to manifest, to scream, to spill the beans, to uncover), cserbenhagy (forsake, forsaken, forsook, leave him in the lurch, throw over, to desert, to die on it, to fail, to fall off, to forsake, to let down, to renege, to throw over). (various references)

Indonesian

berhianat (deceit, treason), mengkhianati (abuse, be traitorous), menghianati. (various references)

Italian

tradire (be unfaithful to, belie, betray oneself, deceive, fail, shop, squeal). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

裏切る (to betray, to double-cross, to turn traitor to), 地が出る (to betray oneself, to reveal one's true colors), 国�'売る (to betray one's country), 寝�"る (to betray, to change sides, to double-cross). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

ねがえる (to betray, to change sides, to double-cross), くに�'うる (to betray one's country), うらぎる (to betray, to double-cross, to turn traitor to), じがでる (to betray oneself, to reveal one's true colors). (various references)

Korean 

배반하십시�". (various references)

Manx

treigeil (abandon, defect, departure, desert, deviation, evacuate, evacuation, fall away, forsake; repudiation, jilt, lay aside, maroon, rat on, repudiate, strand, throw over), brah (betrayal, disclose, disclosure). (various references)

Norwegian

forråde. (various references)

Papiamen

traishoná. (various references)

Pig Latin

etraybay.(various references)

Portuguese

trair (bewray, display, double-cross, fail, let down, sell), seduzir (allure, attract, bait, beguile, debauch, decoy, drain-away, drive, enchant, entice, enticing, gull, inveigle, lure, ruin, seduce, spell, tempt, trepan, vamp, wile), revelar (bewray, break, demonstrate, disclose, discover, disembosom, display, expose, lay bare, publicize, represent, reveal, show, smoke out, unbosom, uncloak, unclose, uncover, unfold, unkennel, unmask, unveil), desnortear (moider, muddy), denunciar (arraign, delate, denounce, denunciate, detect, inform against, peach, snitch, tell), atraiçoar (double-cross, sell, sell out), adulterar (adulterate, bast, commit adultery, dash, debase, dilute, doctor, dope, drug, falsify, fill, garble, load, misinterpret, sophisticate, spoil, tamper, weaken). (various references)

Romanian

vinde (barter away, keep, market, realize, sell), trãda (bespeak, deceive, disclose, evince, give away, Mark, rat, reveal, witness), se demasca (uncover), înşela (abuse, bamboozle, beguile, bluff, cheat, chouse, circumvent, cog, con, cozen, cuckold, deceive, defraud, delude, diddle, disappoint, do, do brown, do something crooked, double cross, dupe, fiddle, frustrate, gag, get round, gull, hocus, hoodwink, humbug, impose, jockey, juggle, mock, mystify, nobble, out-jockey, pigeon, queer, ramp, rook, sharp, shuffle, swindle, trick, victimize). (various references)

Russian 

предавать (commit, play false, play foul, rat). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

varati (cheat, chicane, chouse, deceive, swindle, wile), potkazati (denounce, snitch), odati (bewray, disclose, pay, reveal, tell on), izneveriti (fail, let down), izdati (bring out, give away, hand out, issue, lay out, let, pass off, publish, sell out). (various references)

Spanish

traicionar (double cross, give away, play false, sell down the river, sell out, squeal, traitorize). (various references)

Sranan

tori (account, narrative, story, tale). (various references)

Swedish

förråda (blow, put away, reveal, sell), röja (clear, display, divulge, expose, grub, reveal, thin). (various references)

Thai

แพร่งพราย (ความลับ), แส�"งให้รู้, ทำให้ผิ�"หวัง (disappoint, let down), ทรยศ (double-cross, renegade), หลอกลวง (cheat, dupe, euchre, fake out, fiddle, fool, fox, fudge, gull, hoax, humbug, mountebank). (various references)

Turkish

kötüye kullanmak (abuse, defile, encroach, exploit, impose, make a draft on, misappropriate, misemploy, misuse, presume on, presume upon), ihanet etmek (cheat, deceive, double cross, give the game away, play false, play smb. false, rat, sell smb. down the river, sell the pass, set down, stab, stab smb. in the back, two time), hainlik etmek (be disloyal, play smb. foul, rat), hıyanet etmek, ele vermek (blow the whistle on, delate, finger, give away, give up, grass, grass on smb., peach against, peach on, put on the scent, sell, shop, split on), ağzından kaçırmak (babble, babble out smth., blab, blab out, blunder out, blurt out, let fall, rap out, tattle), açığa vurmak (disclose, divulge, evince, express, externalize, give vent to, lay bare, let on, reveal, spill, uncloak, unclose, uncork, unseal, unveil, utter, vent, ventilate, yield, yield up). (various references)

Turkmen 

satmak (sell). (various references)

Ukrainian

видавати (allow, apportion, emit, issue, publish), обманювати (baffle, bam, beguile, begunk, bluff, bubble, buffalo, cheat, chouse, cozen, deceive, defraud, delude, do down, double cross, gouge, impose, mountebank, swindle, trick, victimize), зраджувати (apostatize, bewray, discover, sell), підводити (cast up, fail, trick). (various references)

Welsh

bradychu. (various references)

indica, indicabis, indicabit, indicabo, indicabunt, indicandam, indicans, indicare, indicarent, indicaretis, indicas, indicasset, indicasti, indicastis, indicat, indicate, indicati, indicatum, indicaverat, indicaverit, indicaveritis, indicaverunt, indicavi, indicavit, indicavitque, indicem, indices, indicet, indico, prodere, proderet, proderis, prodiderat, prodideris, prodit, proditi, proditor, prodo, tradere. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations

Words beginning with "betray": betrayal, betrayals, betrayed, betrayer, betrayers, betraying, betrays. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Betray" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Baltray, baray, barty, batay, Batra, batry, battray, Bechari, Behra, Beitrag, Berjaya, Bernay, berra, berteroi, berti, Bertoia, Beshara, Beshari, bestari, betar, betay, betera, betra, betrail, betroy, betry, betryal, bettah, Bettany, bettray, bewray, Bitran, botvay, bttrly, retray. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: baryte.

-1 letter: barye, taber, teary, yerba.

-2 letters: abet, abye, aery, arty, bare, bate, bear, beat, beta, brae, brat, bray, byre, byte, eyra, rate, tare, tear, tray, trey, tyer, tyre, yare, year.

-3 letters: aby, arb, are, art, ate, aye, bar, bat, bay, bet, bey, bra, bye, ear, eat, era, eta, rat, ray, reb, ret, rya, rye.

+1 letter: barytes, battery, betrays, breathy, typebar.

+2 letters: acerbity, barretry, barytone, basketry, bestiary, betrayal, betrayed, betrayer, butyrate, eurybath, rateably, sybarite, teaberry, terabyte, typebars, ytterbia.

+3 letters: alterably, ambrotype, barometry, baronetcy, barytones, betrayals, betrayers, betraying, breathily, budgetary, butyrates, bystander, cabinetry, eurybaths, ferryboat, refutably, reputably, sybarites, terabytes, tolerably, veritably, ytterbias.

+4 letters: aberrantly, abortively, abstrusely, ambrotypes, babysitter, baptistery, bathymetry, bystanders, corybantes, creditably, cybernated, eurybathic, ferryboats, liberality, obdurately, strawberry, subvariety, terminably.