betray
verb /bɪˈtreɪ/
/bɪˈtreɪ/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they betray | /bɪˈtreɪ/ /bɪˈtreɪ/ |
| he / she / it betrays | /bɪˈtreɪz/ /bɪˈtreɪz/ |
| past simple betrayed | /bɪˈtreɪd/ /bɪˈtreɪd/ |
| past participle betrayed | /bɪˈtreɪd/ /bɪˈtreɪd/ |
| -ing form betraying | /bɪˈtreɪɪŋ/ /bɪˈtreɪɪŋ/ |
- to give information about somebody/something to an enemy
- betray somebody/something He was offered money to betray his colleagues.
- betray somebody/something to somebody For years they had been betraying state secrets to Russia.
- betray somebody/something to hurt somebody who trusts you, especially by lying to or about them or telling their secrets to other people
- She felt betrayed when she found out the truth about him.
- She betrayed his trust over and over again.
- I have never known her to betray a confidence (= tell other people something that should be kept secret).
Synonyms cheatcheat- fool
- deceive
- betray
- take in
- trick
- con
- cheat to make somebody believe something that is not true, in order to get money or something else from them:
- She is accused of attempting to cheat the taxman.
- He cheated his way into the job.
- fool to make somebody believe something that is not true, especially in order to laugh at them or to get what you want:
- Just don’t be fooled into investing any money with them.
- deceive to make somebody believe something that is not true, especially somebody who trusts you, in order to get what you want:
- She deceived him into handing over all his savings.
- betray to hurt somebody who trusts you, especially by lying to or about them or telling their secrets to other people:
- She felt betrayed when she found out the truth about him.
- take somebody in [often passive] to make somebody believe something that is not true, usually in order to get what you want:
- I was taken in by her story.
- trick to make somebody believe something that is not true, especially in a clever way, in order to get what you want.
- con (informal) to make somebody believe something that is not true, especially in order to get money from them or get them to do something for you:
- They had been conned out of £100 000.
- Many of these words involve making somebody believe something that is not true, but some of them are more disapproving than others. Deceive is probably the worst because people typically deceive friends, relations and others who know and trust them. People may feel cheated/betrayed by somebody in authority who they trusted to look after their interests. If somebody takes you in, they may do it by acting a part and using words and charm effectively. If somebody cheats/fools/tricks/cons you, they may get something from you and make you feel stupid. However, somebody might fool you just as a joke; and to trick somebody is sometimes seen as a clever thing to do, if the person being tricked is seen as a bad person who deserves it.
- to cheat/fool/trick/con somebody out of something
- to cheat/fool/deceive/betray/trick/con somebody into doing something
- to feel cheated/fooled/deceived/betrayed/tricked/conned
- to fool/deceive yourself
- to cheat/trick/con your way into something
- betray something to ignore your principles or beliefs in order to achieve something or gain an advantage for yourself
- He has been accused of betraying his former socialist ideals.
- to tell somebody or make them aware of a piece of information, a feeling, etc., usually without meaning to synonym give away
- betray something His voice betrayed the worry he was trying to hide.
- betray yourself She was terrified of saying something that would make her betray herself (= show her feelings or who she was).
Word OriginMiddle English: from be- ‘thoroughly’ + obsolete tray ‘betray’, from Old French trair, based on Latin tradere ‘hand over’.