Synonym Chooser

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

Some common synonyms of traitorous are disloyal, faithless, false, perfidious, and treacherous. While all these words mean "untrue to what should command one's fidelity or allegiance," traitorous implies either actual treason or a serious betrayal of trust.

traitorous acts punishable by death

Where would disloyal be a reasonable alternative to traitorous?

The words disloyal and traitorous can be used in similar contexts, but disloyal implies a lack of complete faithfulness to a friend, cause, leader, or country.

disloyal to their country

When could faithless be used to replace traitorous?

The words faithless and traitorous are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, faithless applies to any failure to keep a promise or pledge or any breach of allegiance or loyalty.

faithless allies

When is it sensible to use false instead of traitorous?

While in some cases nearly identical to traitorous, 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, in the sense of traitorous?

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

a perfidious double-crosser

In what contexts can treacherous take the place of traitorous?

Although the words treacherous and traitorous have much in common, treacherous implies readiness to betray trust or confidence.

a treacherous adviser

Examples 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 traitorous But seeing the speed with which Homelander zaps a hole in one traitorous employee’s head scares her into staying. Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 13 June 2024 Amid this chaos, Penn shows up in London, subtly manipulating British Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) into keeping the whole traitorous scheme under wraps. Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 2 Nov. 2024 He’s played an iconic Harry Potter hero as well as a traitorous Marvel villain. Dalton Ross, EW.com, 14 Aug. 2024 These Democratic leaders are making a rational and somewhat painful decision, not becoming traitorous. Letters To The Editor, Washington Post, 19 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for traitorous 
Recent Examples of Synonyms for traitorous
Adjective
  • Of note: Your Content must not be false, defamatory, misleading or hateful, or infringe any copyright or any other third-party rights or otherwise be unlawful.
    New York Times, New York Times, 19 Jan. 2025
  • But instead of mounting a defense of free speech against a lawsuit and Trump’s accusations that the network said were false and completely without merit, Paramount is considering following the example of Disney and tech oligarchs who will line up at the inauguration like Mark Zuckerberg.
    Richard Lawler, The Verge, 18 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Those steep canyons were too treacherous to hike into—a broken ankle would require an air evacuation—so the crew’s assignment was to create a mile-long containment line in the peaks west of Mount Wilson Observatory.
    M. R. O’Connor, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025
  • With snow accumulations up to 10 inches and widespread gusty winds, travel in these regions will remain treacherous through 4 p.m. Monday.
    Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 26 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • One challenge of narrating Chinese American history is that little is documented and what records do exist are often unreliable.
    Jane Hu, The New Yorker, 23 Jan. 2025
  • Ten inches fell in Orleans Parish on Feb. 14, 1895, NOAA says, but NWS says the record is unreliable.
    Chelsea Brasted, Axios, 21 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Tasked by a mobster with putting an end to the life of his disloyal ex-wife Phyllis, Don is unable to pull the trigger, and instead, the two set off on a road trip that evolves into something much more.
    Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 6 Dec. 2024
  • There's always disloyal people, and every President's had them.
    TIME Staff, TIME, 12 Dec. 2024
Adjective
  • Since then, Putin has sought instead to rally the public to the defense of a motherland besieged by the perfidious and cunning West.
    Leon Aron, The Atlantic, 5 Dec. 2024
  • And in this new era of Sino-Western rivalry, the Olympics are also used by more nationalistic elements of the Chinese media as a way to portray China in a positive light against the perfidious Americans and Europeans.
    Alexander Smith, NBC News, 11 Aug. 2024
Adjective
  • Once lost, now found, Ms. Brady offered the closing prayer as the smell of meatloaf promised lunch for the faithful and faithless alike.
    Moriah Ratner, New York Times, 24 Nov. 2024
  • Men are a structuring absence, as they are spoken of as faithless husbands, potential fiancés, feckless sons.
    John Bleasdale, Variety, 21 Nov. 2024
Adjective
  • The Singularity, published three years earlier, during the same affair, concerns a scientist who turns a mountain into a supercomputer and gives it the personality of his dead wife, a younger woman who was persistently unfaithful to him.
    Christopher Tayler, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
  • Green asked the reporter, who alleged that the singer was unfaithful to his former fiancée.
    Julia Moore, People.com, 13 Dec. 2024
Adjective
  • To clarify, however, rumours that the 26-year-old defender is among the club’s highest earners are untrue.
    Chris Waugh, The Athletic, 21 Jan. 2025
  • But of the limited information it was compelled to provide to Creech, some key details from its latest pentobarbital purchase turned out to be untrue, his attorneys asserted in the court filings while pointing to internal prison records.
    Kevin Fixler, Idaho Statesman, 13 Jan. 2025

Thesaurus Entries Near traitorous

Cite this Entry

“Traitorous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/traitorous. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.

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