disloyal
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disloyal
1470–80; < Middle French desloial, Old French desleal, equivalent to des- dis- 1 + leal loyal
Explanation
If you're disloyal, you're not faithful or trustworthy — you can't be depended on by those who put their trust in you. It would be disloyal to join in with a group of people gossiping about your best friend. It's disloyal when a country violates a signed treaty, and it's disloyal for a citizen to spy for a foreign state against its own government. But it's also disloyal to betray the trust of someone in your life. A disloyal sibling tattles on his brothers and sisters, and a disloyal friend won't keep your secrets. This adjective comes from the Old French desloial, "treacherous or deceitful," which adds the prefix des-, "the opposite of," to loial, "faithful."
Vocabulary lists containing disloyal
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.
That disloyal, greedy kid at the center of college football’s first apparent holdout?
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026
But we find that these generations are particularly brand disloyal.
From Barron's ● Apr. 9, 2026
“I started to realize, shoot, the problem here is, without any kind of loyal or disloyal opposition, there is no accountability to anyone, to the voters,” he says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
That said, the expectation from some that Powell will be shooting her mouth off or frequently public disloyal is overdone.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2025
“Why are they so disloyal to King James?”
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
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.
