traitorous

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈtreɪtərəs/ UK /ˈtreɪtərəs/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
betraying trust or one's country; treacherous

His traitorous letters to the enemy were discovered too late.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · betraying trust or one's... treacherous perfidious disloyal faithlesstreasonousunfaithful

Opposites

loyal faithful true patriotic

Word family

Derived forms traitorouslytraitorousness

Related forms traitor treason betray traitorize

Etymology

From traitor + -ous; traitor is from Old French traitor, from Latin trāditor ('betrayer'), from trādere ('to hand over').

trāditor Latin trādere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# traitorous

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈtreɪtərəs/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈtreɪtərəs/

## Meanings
1. betraying trust or one's country; treacherous

## Examples
- His traitorous letters to the enemy were discovered too late.

## Synonyms
- treacherous
- perfidious
- disloyal
- faithless
- treasonous
- unfaithful

## Antonyms
- loyal
- faithful
- true
- patriotic

## Derived Forms
- traitorously
- traitorousness

## Related Forms
- traitor
- treason
- betray
- traitorize

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: trāditor
- Root: trādere

## Etymology
From traitor + -ous; traitor is from Old French traitor, from Latin trāditor ('betrayer'), from trādere ('to hand over').

## AI Etymology
Traitorous is from traitor + -ous; traitor is from Old French traitor, from Latin trāditor ('betrayer'), from trādere ('to hand over'). Important recorded forms include trāditor (Latin) and trādere (Latin). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense continues the older lexical line without requiring a separate origin. In current use it covers betraying trust or one's country; treacherous. The wider family includes derived forms such as traitorously and traitorousness and related words such as traitor, treason, betray, and traitorize.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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