disloyalty
Americannoun
-
the quality of being disloyal; lack of loyalty; unfaithfulness.
- Synonyms:
- subversion
-
violation of allegiance or duty, as to a government.
-
a disloyal act.
noun
Synonym Usage
Disloyalty, perfidy, treachery, treason imply betrayal of trust. Disloyalty applies to any violation of loyalty, whether to a person, a cause, or one's country, and whether in thought or in deeds: to suspect disloyalty in a friend. Perfidy implies deliberate breaking of faith or of one's pledges and promises, on which others are relying: It is an act of perfidy to cheat innocent people. Treachery implies being secretly traitorous but seeming friendly and loyal: In treachery deceit is added to disloyalty. Treason is performing overt acts to help the enemies of one's country or government: Acting to aid a hostile power is treason.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of disloyalty
1400–50; late Middle English < Middle French desloiaute, Old French desleaute, equivalent to desleal disloyal + -te -ty 2
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.
Purges aimed at rooting out corruption and disloyalty have pushed many officials to focus on finding ways to please Beijing.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 29, 2026
The waves of purges aimed at rooting out corruption and disloyalty have pushed many officials to focus on finding ways to please Beijing and avoid punishment.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 28, 2026
The brand disloyalty counterintuitively plays into Ulta, which aims to discover new brands.
From Barron's • Apr. 9, 2026
It is also possible that some voters will dislike any whiff of disloyalty and division and express themselves accordingly.
From BBC • Feb. 13, 2026
Again she felt the trickle of disloyalty and guilt, which seemed to be the order of the day, and reacted to it by reaching over to cover Lane’s hand with her own.
From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger
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.
