treason
Americannoun
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the offense of acting to overthrow one's government or to harm or kill its sovereign.
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a violation of allegiance to one's sovereign or to one's state.
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the betrayal of a trust or confidence; breach of faith; treachery.
noun
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violation or betrayal of the allegiance that a person owes his sovereign or his country, esp by attempting to overthrow the government; high treason
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any treachery or betrayal
Related Words
Treason, sedition mean disloyalty or treachery to one's country or its government. Treason is any attempt to overthrow the government or impair the well-being of a state to which one owes allegiance; the crime of giving aid or comfort to the enemies of one's government. Sedition is any act, writing, speech, etc., directed unlawfully against state authority, the government, or constitution, or calculated to bring it into contempt or to incite others to hostility, ill will or disaffection; it does not amount to treason and therefore is not a capital offense. See disloyalty.
Other Word Forms
- supertreason noun
- treasonable adjective
- treasonableness noun
- treasonably adverb
Etymology
Origin of treason
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English tre(i)so(u)n, from Anglo-French; Old French traïson, from Latin trāditiōn-, stem of trāditiō “delivery, transfer, betrayal”; tradition
Compare meaning
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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.
A wounded John Brown was captured, tried, and hanged for treason.
From Literature
The last was Charles I, who was arrested in 1646 and executed three years later for treason.
From Salon
"I need to know that you are willing to take part in an act of treason that will decide this war for Germany," he asks.
From BBC
Burr channeled Caleb’s belief in “the sovereignty of truth” even before he faced a trial for treason orchestrated by Jefferson in 1807.
Fellow Canadians slammed the NBC video on social media, with some calling it "infuriating" and one going as far as to call it "treason".
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.
