When you betray someone or something, you provide information whether you mean to do it or not, like the loud growling of your stomach that betrays your hunger or the secret you tell about your friend that betrays her trust.
Verb
give away information about somebody; "He told on his classmate who had cheated on the exam"
Verb
cause someone to believe an untruth; "The insurance company deceived me when they told me they were covering my house"
Verb
reveal unintentionally; "Her smile betrayed her true feelings"
Verb
disappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake; "His sense of smell failed him this time"; "His strength finally failed him"; "His children failed him in the crisis"
Verb
deliver to an enemy by treachery; "Judas sold Jesus"; "The spy betrayed his country"
Verb
be sexually unfaithful to one''s partner in marriage; "She cheats on her husband"; "Might her husband be wandering?"
v. t.
To deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or
fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly;
as, an officer betrayed the city.
v. t.
To prove faithless or treacherous to, as to a trust or
one who trusts; to be false to; to deceive; as, to betray a person or a
cause.
v. t.
To violate the confidence of, by disclosing a secret, or
that which one is bound in honor not to make known.
v. t.
To disclose or discover, as something which prudence
would conceal; to reveal unintentionally.
v. t.
To mislead; to expose to inconvenience not foreseen to
lead into error or sin.
v. t.
To lead astray, as a maiden; to seduce (as under promise
of marriage) and then abandon.
v. t.
To show or to indicate; -- said of what is not obvious
at first, or would otherwise be concealed.
Usage Examples
Beauty, like ice, our footing does betray Who can tread sure on the smooth, slippery way: Pleased with the surface, we glide swiftly on, And see the dangers that we cannot shun.
Not to transmit an experience is to betray it.
Freedom is fragile and must be protected. To sacrifice it, even as a temporary measure, is to betray it.
Lovers have a right to betray you... friends don't.
Some people are willing to betray years of friendship just to get a little bit of the spotlight.
I hate the idea of causes, and if I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.
If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.
Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.
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Other Usage ExamplesMoney and corruption are ruining the land, crooked politicians betray the working man, pocketing the profits and treating us like sheep, and we're tired of hearing promises that we know they'll never keep.
Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.
In politics it is necessary either to betray one's country or the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate.
The intellectual tradition is one of servility to power, and if I didn't betray it I'd be ashamed of myself.
If my career continues along its current arc, people will probably look at me and see a writer who is obsessed with the relationship between rich and poor and with how the rich somehow or other always manage to betray the poor, even when they don't mean to.
Only trust thyself, and another shall not betray thee.
The chief internal enemies of any state are those public officials who betray the trust imposed upon them by the people.
Every nation whose affairs betray a want of wisdom and stability may calculate on every loss which can be sustained from the more systematic policy of its wiser neighbors.
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