treason
pronunciation
How to pronounce treason in British English:
UK [ˈtriːzn]
How to pronounce treason in American English:
US [ˈtriːzn]
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- Noun:
- a crime that undermines the offender's government
- disloyalty by virtue of subversive behavior
- an act of deliberate betrayal
Word Origin
- treason
- treason: [13] Treason and tradition are doublets – they have a common source. This was Latin trāditiō, a derivative of trādere ‘hand over, deliver’ (source also of English traitor). The notion of ‘handing something on to someone else’ lies behind tradition, but treason (acquired via Anglo-Norman treisoun) gets its meaning from the metaphorically extended Latin sense ‘hand over treacherously, betray’.=> betray, tradition, traitor
- treason (n.)
- c. 1200, "betraying; betrayal of trust; breech of faith," from Anglo-French treson, from Old French traison "treason, treachery" (11c.; Modern French trahison), from Latin traditionem (nominative traditio) "a handing over, delivery, surrender" (see tradition). Old French form influenced by the verb trair "betray." In old English law, high treason is violation by a subject of his allegiance to his sovereign or to the state; distinguished from petit treason, treason against a subject, such as murder of a master by his servant. Constructive treason was a judicial fiction whereby actions carried out without treasonable intent, but found to have the effect of treason, were punished as though they were treason itself. The protection against this accounts for the careful wording of the definition of treason in the U.S. Constitution.
Synonym
Example
- 1. 2000 Charged with treason ; charge later dismissed .
- 2. The british government , in response , charged paine with treason , causing him to ee back to france .
- 3. The principle is that two allied players will beat a single player , but , in the end , only one can win - so treason is part of the game .
- 4. 2004 Acquitted of treason after 18-month trial .
- 5. Spanish conservatives accused him of treason .