TREACHERY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does treachery mean? 

• TREACHERY (noun)
  The noun TREACHERY has 2 senses:

1. betrayal of a trust

2. an act of deliberate betrayal

  Familiarity information: TREACHERY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TREACHERY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Betrayal of a trust

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

perfidiousness; perfidy; treachery

Hypernyms ("treachery" is a kind of...):

disloyalty (the quality of being disloyal)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "treachery"):

insidiousness (the quality of being designed to entrap)

Derivation:

treacherous (tending to betray; especially having a treacherous character as attributed to the Carthaginians by the Romans)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An act of deliberate betrayal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

betrayal; perfidy; treachery; treason

Hypernyms ("treachery" is a kind of...):

dishonesty; knavery (lack of honesty; acts of lying or cheating or stealing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "treachery"):

double-crossing; double cross (an act of betrayal)

sellout (a betrayal of one's principles principles, country, cause, etc.)

Derivation:

treacherous (tending to betray; especially having a treacherous character as attributed to the Carthaginians by the Romans)

 Context examples 

The treachery, or the folly, of my cousin's maid betrayed us.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

If there's any treachery, it'll be on your side, and the Lord help you.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The Judge was at a meeting of the Raisin Growers’ Association, and the boys were busy organizing an athletic club, on the memorable night of Manuel’s treachery.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

But if any fraud or treachery is practising against him, I hope that simple love and truth will be strong in the end.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

As I looked on him, his countenance expressed the utmost extent of malice and treachery.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The gods were all- wise, and there was no telling what masterful treachery lurked behind that apparently harmless piece of meat.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I enjoyed perfect health of body, and tranquillity of mind; I did not feel the treachery or inconstancy of a friend, nor the injuries of a secret or open enemy.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

And yet that would involve treachery towards the mistress to whom this woman seems devoted.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She could not endure the idea of treachery or levity, or anything akin to ill usage between him and his friend.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

And why, now, was he so tame under the violence or treachery done him?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)