high treason

American

noun

treason against the sovereign or state.

high treason British

noun

an act of treason directly affecting a sovereign or state

"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

Etymology

Origin of high treason

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400

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.

See Examples For:

high treason

Col Dmytro Kozyura was found guilty of high treason under martial law, Ukraine's prosecutor general said.

From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026

Copenhagen dismissed and charged Kauffmann with high treason, which he ignored.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026

He also noted the "absence of the death penalty" even though Burkina Faso recently reinstated it for crimes of high treason.

From Barron's ● Jan. 20, 2026

Saudi Arabia branded him a “fugitive,” while the Yemeni government accused him of high treason.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 20, 2026

Had Margaery Tyrell somehow wriggled free of the accusations of fornication, adultery, and high treason?

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023