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
Explanation
If you are faithful and devoted to someone or something, you're loyal. If you refuse to buy milk from anyone other than Farmer Jones, then you're a very loyal customer. Someone who is loyal is reliable and always true, like your trusty dog. Loyal comes from the Old French word loial which means something like "legal," but if someone is only loyal to you because the law requires him to be, that's not true loyalty, which should come from the heart, not a contract. A loyal friend supports you all the time, no matter what. You can also be loyal to an idea, like the People's Revolution, or girl-power.
Vocabulary lists containing loyal
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Beowulf vocabulary
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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.
Some openly badmouthed the PGA Tour when they left and tore up their contracts, creating bad blood with those who remained loyal.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026
Several high-value productions in the team shooter genre have fallen flat in recent years, with titles such as "Concord" or "Highguard" quickly taken offline after failing to win a loyal player base.
From Barron's • Apr. 12, 2026
The company may also be getting loyal mouthpieces.
From Slate • Apr. 7, 2026
Simeone is loyal to Atletico but hasn't hidden his desire to one day manage another of his former clubs.
From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026
Meanwhile, just north of Richmond Hill, near present-day Wall Street, Hamilton was boarding a small skiff with two oarsmen, his physician, Dr. David Hosack, and his own loyal associate Nathaniel Pendleton.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
