Standard Lemma guide

traitorous

adj · 3 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.

  • trāt′ərəs
  • /ˈtɹeɪtəɹəs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • trāt′rəs
  • /ˈtɹeɪtɹəs/
  • rhymes with -eɪtɹəs
  • CMU ARPABET: T R EY1 T ER0 AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Characteristic of a traitor; disloyal.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

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

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Constituting treason; treasonable or seditious.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: law

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

having the character of, or characteristic of, a traitor

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the faithless Benedict Arnold
  • a lying traitorous insurrectionist

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: faithless, unfaithful, treasonable, treasonous

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English trayterous, traytrous, (also Middle English traytours, treytours), from Anglo-Norman traiterous, traitourous and Old French traitros.

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: предателски (predatelski) — characteristic of a traitor
  • Catalan: traïdor — characteristic of a traitor
  • Danish: forræderisk — characteristic of a traitor
  • German: verräterisch — characteristic of a traitor
  • German: treulos — characteristic of a traitor
  • German: untreu — characteristic of a traitor
  • Greek: προδοτικός (prodotikós) — characteristic of a traitor
  • Ancient Greek: προδοτικός (prodotikós) — characteristic of a traitor
  • Macedonian: предавнички (predavnički) — characteristic of a traitor
  • Macedonian: издајнички (izdajnički) — characteristic of a traitor
  • Norwegian Bokmål: forrædersk — characteristic of a traitor
  • Norwegian Bokmål: forræderisk — characteristic of a traitor
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: forrædersk — characteristic of a traitor
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: forræderisk — characteristic of a traitor
  • Portuguese: traiçoeiro — characteristic of a traitor
  • Portuguese: traidor — characteristic of a traitor
  • Spanish: traicionero — characteristic of a traitor
  • Spanish: traidor — characteristic of a traitor
  • Spanish: kalé — characteristic of a traitor
  • Spanish: magancés (disused) — characteristic of a traitor
  • Swedish: förrädisk — characteristic of a traitor
  • Greek: στασιαστικός (stasiastikós) — law: constituting treason; treasonable or seditious
  • Greek: ανατρεπτικός (anatreptikós) — law: constituting treason; treasonable or seditious
  • Macedonian: предавнички (predavnički) — law: constituting treason; treasonable or seditious
  • Macedonian: издајнички (izdajnički) — law: constituting treason; treasonable or seditious
Real reading context

traitorous in complete knowledge articles

Traitorous eight Science & nature · Challenging · 7 uses