treason

[tree-zuhn]

noun

1. the offense of acting to overthrow one's government or to harm or kill its sovereign.

2. a violation of allegiance to one's sovereign or to one's state.

3. the betrayal of a trust or confidence; breach of faith; treachery.

treason

/ ˈtriːzən /

noun

1. violation or betrayal of the allegiance that a person owes his sovereign or his country, esp by attempting to overthrow the government; high treason

2. any treachery or betrayal

Other Word Forms

• supertreason noun
• treasonableness noun
• treasonable adjective
• treasonably adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of treason¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of treason¹

C13: from Old French traïson , from Latin trāditiō a handing over; see _tradition , _traditor

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

Burkina Faso's military government says it has arrested eight members of a Dutch-based humanitarian organisation, accusing them of "spying and treason".

Read more on BBC

He faces treason charges, and a hearing was due to start on Monday.

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Last year, another Uganda opposition figure, Kizza Besigye, mysteriously disappeared in Nairobi only to surface four days later in a military court in Uganda, where he faces treason charges.

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Former Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila has been sentenced to death in absentia for war crimes and treason.

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Saudi Arabia has executed a Saudi journalist who was arrested in 2018 and convicted of terrorism and treason.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• crime 
• mutiny 
• sedition 
• subversion 
• treachery