traitor
Americannoun
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traitors
plural
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a person who betrays another person, a cause, or any trust.
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a person who commits treason by betraying their country.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of traitor
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English from Old French from Latin trāditōr-, stem of trāditor “betrayer”; see traditor
Explanation
A traitor says one thing but does another. If you promise a friend you'll keep his secret, but instead you blab it to everyone, you're a traitor. The word origin says it all: traditorem is the Latin word for "betrayer." Liar? Yes. Backstabber? Yes. True friend? Heavens, no. Traitors betray the trust of those who have faith in them or believe their promises. Traitor also applies to a person who betrays his country by committing treason: turning against his own government, perhaps by selling secret information.
Vocabulary lists containing traitor
The Watsons Go to Birmingham
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The American Revolution - Introductory
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"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act IV
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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.
See Examples For:
Over his 23-year career in the NBA, LeBron James has been a hero and a villain, a savior and a traitor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Christ was cornered — pay taxes to Rome, or be branded a traitor — and so he turned the trap into a statement about the limits of power.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
Wary of being called a traitor again, Elmo says he supports the U.S. soccer team.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
Long condemned as a traitor, Malinche is being reimagined as a brilliant Indigenous survivor whose intelligence and resilience helped shape Mexico, amid a feminist and cultural reckoning that is rewriting her place in history.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 15, 2026
All that she did of evil and of good was done for him alone, and in the end, all the reward she got was that he turned traitor to her.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
The show — loosely based on the game Mafia — selects celebrities to be faithfuls and traitors, and the faithful must attempt to discover the traitors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2026
Seven members of Iran's visiting football delegation competing in the Women's Asian Cup had sought sanctuary in Australia after they were branded "traitors" at home for refusing to sing the national anthem.
From Barron's ● Mar. 14, 2026
His mission was to track down American traitors who had aided the Italian and Nazi war efforts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026
The celebrity version of the show saw Carr appear alongside Sir Stephen Fry, Kate Garraway and Celia Imrie, as well as his fellow traitors Cat Burns and Jonathan Ross.
From BBC ● Jan. 30, 2026
This was true: and while he spoke my very conscience and reason turned traitors against me, and charged me with crime in resisting him.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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.
