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Synonyms

traitor

American  
[trey-ter] / ˈtreɪ tər /

noun

  1. a person who betrays another person, a cause, or any trust.

  2. a person who commits treason by betraying their country.

traitor British  
/ ˈtreɪtə /

noun

  1. a person who is guilty of treason or treachery, in betraying friends, country, a cause or trust, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • traitorous adjective
  • traitorously adverb
  • traitorship noun
  • traitress noun

Etymology

Origin of traitor

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English from Old French from Latin trāditōr-, stem of trāditor “betrayer”; traditor

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.

“Let me tell you what a traitor is: A traitor is an American that serves foreign countries,” Greene said this week.

From The Wall Street Journal

“The war against the Allies was nearly over, but the Reich’s war on the German citizens it had branded as traitors would be fought to the very end,” Mr. Freedland writes.

From The Wall Street Journal

"He called me a traitor for standing with these women and refusing to take my name off this discharge petition," Greene said on Tuesday.

From BBC

The 78-year-old tried to quell protests with a heavy hand and characterized the demonstrators as criminals, terrorists and traitors.

From The Wall Street Journal

"He called me a traitor, and that is so extremely wrong, and those are the types of words used that can radicalize people against me and put my life in danger," said Greene.

From BBC

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.