loyal

[loi-uhl]

adjective

1. faithful to one's sovereign, government, or state.

   a loyal subject.

   Synonyms: patriotic
   Antonyms: treacherous, faithless, disloyal, treasonous, traitorous

2. faithful to one's oath, commitments, or obligations.

   to be loyal to a vow.

   Synonyms: true, steadfast, staunch, devoted, constant

3. faithful to any leader, party, or cause, or to any person or thing conceived as deserving fidelity.

   a loyal friend.

4. characterized by or showing faithfulness to commitments, vows, allegiance, obligations, etc..

   loyal conduct.

loyal

/ ˈlɔɪəl /

adjective

1. having or showing continuing allegiance

2. faithful to one's country, government, etc

3. of or expressing loyalty

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of loyal¹

First recorded in 1525–35; from Middle French, Old French loial, lei(a)l, from Latin lēgālis legal

Word History and Origins

Origin of loyal¹

C16: from Old French loial, leial, from Latin lēgālis _legal

Synonym Study

See faithful.

Example Sentences

As it happened, Johnson had proven himself to be a loyal Trumper long before he put in his bid for speaker.

Read more on Salon

Mr Banayee says he was waiting for a call to fight soldiers loyal to Ahmad Shah Massoud, a former mujahideen commander who had fought the Soviets and was now resisting the Taliban in northern Afghanistan.

Read more on BBC

Citing Boluarte's "permanent moral incapacity," Congress kicked the lightning-fast impeachment proceedings into motion late Thursday, garnering support from across the political spectrum, including parties once loyal to her.

Read more on Barron's

They, and other key militia groups, remain loyal to the president.

Read more on BBC

But he was keenly loyal to his literary home: He canceled his subscription to the Saturday Review when that publication ran an attack on the New Yorker’s “shallow sophistication.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• ardent 
• devoted 
• dutiful 
• patriotic 
• staunch 
• steadfast 
• true 
• trustworthy