Standard Lemma guide

swike

adj · noun · verb · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /swaɪk/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -aɪk

1

adj

Meaning 1

Deceitful; treacherous.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dialectal, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: guiled, perfidious, trothless, beguiling, deceitful, deceptious, deceptive, deceptory, fallacious, fraudful, fraudulent, mendacious, booky, dastardly, disleal, disloyal, double-crossing, double-dealing, double-faced, double-hearted, doublehearted, faithless, false, falseheart, false-hearted, guileful, hollow-hearted, illoyal, infidelitous, insidious, Judaslike, Judasly, nonfaithful, proditorious, proditory, Punic, ratlike, recreant, renegade, reptilian, reptitious, swike, traitorish, traitorlike, traitorly, traitorous, traitorsome, treacherous, treachersome, unfaithful, unleal, unloyal, unsteadfast, untrue, viperish, viperous

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Deceit; treachery.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Scotland, dialectal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: perfidy, prodition, traitory, betrayal, breach of promise, breach of trust, double-dealing, Judas kiss, perfidiousness, Punic faith, stab in the back, swike, tergiversation, treacherousness, treachery, treason

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A deceiver; betrayer, traitor.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dialectal, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: rat, renegade, treasonist, backstabber, betrayer, cockatrice, double-crosser, quisling, ratter, recreant, serpent, snake, snake in the grass, swike, traitor, treacher, treacherer, turntippet, withersake, wolf in sheep's clothing

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A hiding place; den; cave.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dialectal, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

verb

Meaning 5

To deceive, cheat; betray.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dialectal, obsolete, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: double-cross, sell out, stab in the back, assfuck, betray, burn, cop out, cross out, cross up, do someone dirty, do the dirty on, false, go back on, knife, let down, play someone false, quisle, renegade, sell, sell the pass, sell down the river, sell down, swike, traitorize, turncoat

Antonyms: none provided

6

verb

Meaning 6

To stop, cease.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dialectal, obsolete, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: desist, halt, anchor, astand, blin, brake, cease, draw up, grind to a halt, hold, immobilize, leave off, rest, stall, stay, stint, stop, swike

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English swiken, from Old English swīcan (“to wander, depart, cease from, yield, give way, fail, fall short, be wanting, abandon, desert, turn traitor, deceive, rebel”), from Proto-West Germanic *swīkwan, from Proto-Germanic *swīkwaną (“to dodge, swerve, avoid, betray”), from Proto-Indo-European *sweyg- (“to turn, move around, wander, swing”).