loyal
Americanadjective
-
faithful to one's sovereign, government, or state.
a loyal subject.
- Synonyms:
- patriotic
- Antonyms:
- treacherous, faithless, disloyal, treasonous, traitorous
-
faithful to one's oath, commitments, or obligations.
to be loyal to a vow.
-
faithful to any leader, party, or cause, or to any person or thing conceived as deserving fidelity.
a loyal friend.
-
characterized by or showing faithfulness to commitments, vows, allegiance, obligations, etc..
loyal conduct.
adjective
-
having or showing continuing allegiance
-
faithful to one's country, government, etc
-
of or expressing loyalty
Related Words
See faithful.
Other Word Forms
- loyally adverb
- loyalness noun
- nonloyal adjective
- nonloyally adverb
- overloyal adjective
- overloyally adverb
- quasi-loyal adjective
- quasi-loyally adverb
- superloyal adjective
- superloyally adverb
- unloyal adjective
- unloyally adverb
Etymology
Origin of loyal
First recorded in 1525–35; from Middle French, Old French loial, lei(a)l, from Latin lēgālis legal
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Much of the assault’s success was the result of Arab tribal forces, who were once loyal to the SDF, switching sides to back the government.
While many loyal customers lament the loss of open seating, Southwest has been under pressure from investors to boost profitability.
From Los Angeles Times
Along plains and mountains we brigadistas go loyal to our country and fighting for peace.
From Literature
![]()
"Those sacrifices deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect, as we all remain united and loyal to the defence of diplomacy and peace."
From BBC
Much of the assault’s success was the result of Arab tribal forces, who were once loyal to the SDF, switching sides to back the government, WSJ previously reported.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.