betray

Meaning

1. To deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly.
2. To prove faithless or treacherous to, as to a trust or one who trusts; to be false to; to deceive.
3. To violate the confidence of, by disclosing a secret, or that which one is bound in honor not to make known.
4. To disclose (a secret, etc.) in deliberate violation of someone’s confidence.
5. To disclose or indicate, for example something which prudence would conceal; to reveal unintentionally.
6. To mislead; to expose to inconvenience not foreseen; to lead into error or sin.
7. To lead astray; to seduce (as under promise of marriage) and then abandon.

Concepts

betray

cheat

deceive

give away

sell

tell on

trick

bewray

cheat on

reveal

defraud

delude

denounce

fail

sell out

double-cross

disclose

cuckold

beguile

double cross

mislead

be treacherous

revolt

wander

inform

grass

commit adultery

commit treason

be unfaithful

abandon

be ungrateful

go against

mutiny

rebel

peach

rat

shit

shop

snitch

stag

lead astray

bespeak

blow

uncloak

uncover

unfold

unveil

fool

be untrue

oath

let down

give

break

expose

cozen

reveal a secret

report

bamboozle

bilk

con

err

ditch

drop

dump

leave someone in the lurch

blow the whistle

change sides

turn traitor to

stab someone in the back

be a traitor

be dishonest

to be a traitor

break one’s promise

corrupt

sell-out

tattle

go back

job

play false

squib

be disloyal tọ

embarrass

reveal treacherously

divulge

squeal

give up

be wily

dupe

ambush

break faith with

break a promise

grass on

inform on

befool

defalcate

embezzle

bring forth

come across

evidence

look

look like

point

post

present

record

register

say

screen

shew

show

bare

catch

elicit

expound

exteriorize

muckrake

out

talk

tell

trip up

unclothe

undeceive

undrape

unearth

unmask

beat

give way

go back on

hornswoggle

short

two-time

inferior

deny

lie

let out

blame

defame

malign

ruin

slander

behind the scenes

conspire

undermine

damage

disturb

endanger

harm

accuse secretly

accuse

asperse

swindle

defect

for sale

treachery

betrayal

chisel

sabotage

disappoint

forsake

Pronounced as (IPA)

/bɪˈtɹeɪ/

Etymology

From Middle English betrayen, betraien, equivalent to be- + tray (“to betray”).
further etymology information
Middle English bi- is from Old English be- (“be-”), from Proto-Germanic *bi- (“be-”), from Proto-Germanic *bi (“near, by”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi (“at, near”). Compare also traitor, treason, tradition. The modern sense “to disclose, discover, reveal unintentionally” is due to influence from or merger with English bewray (“to reveal, divulge”), which is similar in sound and meaning. The similarity with German betrügen, Dutch bedriegen, from Proto-West Germanic *bidreugan (“to betray, deceive”), is coincidental.