Synonym Chooser

How is the word faithless different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of faithless are disloyal, false, perfidious, traitorous, and treacherous. While all these words mean "untrue to what should command one's fidelity or allegiance," faithless applies to any failure to keep a promise or pledge or any breach of allegiance or loyalty.

faithless allies

When can disloyal be used instead of faithless?

The synonyms disloyal and faithless are sometimes interchangeable, but disloyal implies a lack of complete faithfulness to a friend, cause, leader, or country.

disloyal to their country

When could false be used to replace faithless?

In some situations, the words false and faithless are roughly equivalent. However, false stresses the fact of failing to be true in any manner ranging from fickleness to cold treachery.

betrayed by false friends

How do perfidious and faithless relate to one another?

Perfidious adds to faithless the implication of an incapacity for fidelity or reliability.

a perfidious double-crosser

When is traitorous a more appropriate choice than faithless?

While the synonyms traitorous and faithless are close in meaning, traitorous implies either actual treason or a serious betrayal of trust.

traitorous acts punishable by death

When might treacherous be a better fit than faithless?

The meanings of treacherous and faithless largely overlap; however, treacherous implies readiness to betray trust or confidence.

a treacherous adviser

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of faithless Since Biden is no longer in the running, they won't be considered faithless. Kaleigh Rogers, ABC News, 23 July 2024 Nellore admits to being of faithless background yet criticizes people of faith. Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 8 Mar. 2024 Image In the Patricia Highsmith novel and the subsequent Hitchcock movie that introduced this intriguing plot to the public, the would-be victims are mere annoyances — a critical father, a faithless wife. Sarah Lyall, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2024 In Her Car follows Lydia, a psychologist with anxiety issues on her way to Kharkiv to divorce her faithless husband who spots a young woman at a bus station and decides to give a young woman a lift. Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Feb. 2024 See All Example Sentences for faithless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for faithless
Adjective
  • The blame for this terrifying scenario, McCarthy declared, rested with traitorous federal employees, who had sold their country out and had to be purged from its service.
    Made by History, TIME, 9 Feb. 2025
  • Guinevere, usually relegated to the thankless role of traitorous wife, acts here as Arthur’s beloved confidante.
    Elizabeth Hand, Washington Post, 16 July 2024
Adjective
  • The surge is supplementing an unreliable grid beset by aging infrastructure and a fuel shortage.
    Troy Aidan Sambajon, The Christian Science Monitor, 15 Feb. 2025
  • Read: The real cost of knowledge The mess that this creates, in the form of unreliable research, can to some extent be cleaned up after publication.
    Adam Marcus, The Atlantic, 13 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Post misconstrues video of Trump at Gabbard's swearing-in ceremony The Threads post appeared to draw a false conclusion from Salcedo's remarks about not seeing Gabbard being sworn in during the Feb. 12 edition of his program.
    Andre Byik, USA TODAY, 25 Feb. 2025
  • These swift reactions represent a false binary between 1980s-style mantras focused on growth regardless of the consequences and a forward-looking approach that integrates social and environmental considerations to enhance performance, particularly over the long term.
    The Sorenson Impact Institute, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Just days before True's birth, Kardashian learned that Thompson had allegedly been unfaithful.
    Jacqueline Weiss, People.com, 21 Feb. 2025
  • Besides being unsightly, Hephaestus was lame and also had the misfortune of an unfaithful wife.
    Cody Cottier, Discover Magazine, 20 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • School districts opted to cancel class or switch to virtual learning throughout the eastern U.S. and as far west as Oklahoma, citing dangerously low temperatures and treacherous travel conditions.
    Gabe Hauari, USA TODAY, 20 Feb. 2025
  • With the help of her boyfriend (Tyler Lepley) – a former cop turned private investigator – Marley’s search for what really happened leads her down a treacherous maze of deception and betrayal.
    DeMicia Inman, VIBE.com, 19 Feb. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Faithless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/faithless. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on faithless

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