treacherously

American  

[trech-er-uhs-lee] / ˈtrɛtʃ ər əs li /

adverb

1. in a way characterized by faithlessness or betrayal; traitorously.

   Darius of Persia was treacherously wounded by two of his own officers.

2. in a way that is deceptive, untrustworthy, or unreliable.

   This peak looks treacherously easy, but it has seen a recurrence of avalanches.

3. in a way or to a degree that is dangerous; hazardously.

   He refused to go faster than 25 mph on the treacherously winding and narrow Wildwood Road.

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Other Word Forms

• untreacherously
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of treacherously

treacherous ( def. ) + -ly

Explanation

When you act treacherously, you betray someone. If you tell everyone in school your best friend's carefully guarded secret, you've behaved treacherously. Acting treacherously hurts or deceives another person, or betrays a secret or promise. A little boy might treacherously give away his sister's hiding place during a game of hide and seek — and his sister, in turn, might treacherously announce to some older kids that he's scared of the dark. In both cases, a secret has been betrayed. Treacherously comes from the adjective treacherous, with its Old French root word, trechier, "to cheat or trick."

Example Sentences

Treacherously, without seeing the old man's pallor, struck to the heart, he thus seceded from La Fromenti�re.

From Autumn Glory The Toilers of the Field by Bazin, Ren?

Treacherously it was, within my own citadel, at the very moment of my coming.

From The Boss of Little Arcady by Wilson, Harry Leon

Treacherously be plants himself behind a stone or shell, and watches the process, chuckling in his inmost stomach over the dainty meal in prospect.

From Punchinello, Volume 2, No. 29, October 15, 1870 by Various

Treacherously he accepts friendship; he feigns to be witless; and all the while this hell-fire is hidden out of sight.

From The Unknown Sea by Housman, Clemence