turncoat

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˈtɜrnˌkoʊt/ UK /ˈtɜːnˌkəʊt/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
a person who deserts one party or cause for the opposing one

Once a loyal ally, he was branded a turncoat after the defection.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person who deserts one... traitor renegade defector apostate deserter betrayer quisling

Opposites

loyalist patriot

Word family

Related forms turn coat

Etymology

A 16th-century compound of turn + coat, from the image of someone reversing their coat to display the colors or livery of the opposing side.

coat Old French

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

# turncoat

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈtɜrnˌkoʊt
**IPA (UK):** ˈtɜːnˌkəʊt

## Meanings
1. a person who deserts one party or cause for the opposing one

## Examples
- Once a loyal ally, he was branded a turncoat after the defection.

## Synonyms
- traitor
- renegade
- defector
- apostate
- deserter
- betrayer
- quisling

## Antonyms
- loyalist
- patriot

## Related Forms
- turn
- coat

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: coat

## Etymology
A 16th-century compound of turn + coat, from the image of someone reversing their coat to display the colors or livery of the opposing side.

## AI Etymology
Turncoat is a 16th-century compound of turn + coat, from the image of someone reversing their coat to display the colors or livery of the opposing side. The compound structure is semantically important: one element narrows the setting, direction, or quality, and the other supplies the object, action, or base idea. As a noun, it denotes "a person who deserts one party or cause for the opposing one", keeping the historical idea close to its dictionary sense. Relevant historical forms include Old French coat. Related words include turn, coat.

## Topics
- People & Society

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turncoat

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