loyal
Americanadjective
-
faithful to one's sovereign, government, or state.
a loyal subject.
- Synonyms:
- patriotic
- Antonyms:
- treacherous, faithless, disloyal, treasonous, traitorous
-
faithful to one's oath, commitments, or obligations.
to be loyal to a vow.
-
faithful to any leader, party, or cause, or to any person or thing conceived as deserving fidelity.
a loyal friend.
-
characterized by or showing faithfulness to commitments, vows, allegiance, obligations, etc..
loyal conduct.
adjective
-
having or showing continuing allegiance
-
faithful to one's country, government, etc
-
of or expressing loyalty
Related Words
See faithful.
Other Word Forms
- loyally adverb
- loyalness noun
- nonloyal adjective
- nonloyally adverb
- overloyal adjective
- overloyally adverb
- quasi-loyal adjective
- quasi-loyally adverb
- superloyal adjective
- superloyally adverb
- unloyal adjective
- unloyally adverb
Etymology
Origin of loyal
First recorded in 1525–35; from Middle French, Old French loial, lei(a)l, from Latin lēgālis legal
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.
His followers, known as the Kwankwasiyya movement, are recognised for their trademark red caps and have remained loyal to Kwankwaso through several party changes over the years.
From BBC • Mar. 30, 2026
Under Erisa, loyal and conflict-free retirement-plan fiduciaries have discretion and flexibility to determine the investments most likely to maximize risk-adjusted return for the retirement savers who participate in their plans.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026
The company has attracted a large loyal fan base with more than 2.5 billion active Apple devices worldwide.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026
In the 1970s, Garcia said, Chávez aggressively worked to “weed out people that he thought were betrayers of the movement and were not loyal to him. They called it ‘the game.’”
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2026
She didn’t think that Cook or Mr. Henry had done it; they were too nice and loyal to Mrs. Caruthers and Richard, who had no reason to want Clara dead.
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
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.
