betray
pronunciation
How to pronounce betray in British English:
UK [bɪˈtreɪ]
How to pronounce betray in American English:
US [bɪˈtreɪ]
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- Verb:
- reveal unintentionally
- deliver to an enemy by treachery
- disappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake
- be sexually unfaithful to one's partner in marriage
- give away information about somebody
- cause someone to believe an untruth
Word Origin
- betray
- betray: [13] Betray is an English formation based on the Old French verb traïr ‘betray’, which came from Latin tradere ‘hand over, deliver up’ (originally a compound formed from trans- ‘across’ and dāre ‘give’). The noun formed from tradere was trāditiō, from which English gets, directly, tradition, and indirectly, via Old French and Anglo-Norman, the appropriate treason.=> tradition, treason
- betray (v.)
- late 13c., bitrayen "mislead, deceive, betray," from be- + obsolete Middle English tray, from Old French traine "betrayal, deception, deceit," from trair (Modern French trahir) "betray, deceive," from Latin tradere "hand over," from trans- "across" (see trans-) + dare "to give" (see date (n.1)). Related: Betrayed; betraying.
Example
- 1. They also betray mental and emotional commotion within .
- 2. They weren 't going to betray him .
- 3. In the race 's last days neither barack obama nor mitt romney has hesitated to betray virtues that are supposed to define them .
- 4. These words betray a colossal arrogance .
- 5. None of the physical relics he left behind betray it .