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betray

[bih-trey]

Example Sentences Origin

verb (used with object)

to deliver or expose to an enemy by treachery or disloyalty: Benedict Arnold betrayed his country.

to be unfaithful in guarding, maintaining, or fulfilling: to betray a trust.

to disappoint the hopes or expectations of; be disloyal to: to betray one's friends.

to reveal or disclose in violation of confidence: to betray a secret.

to reveal unconsciously (something one would preferably conceal): Her nervousness betrays her insecurity.

EXPAND

to show or exhibit; reveal; disclose: an unfeeling remark that betrays his lack of concern.

to deceive, misguide, or corrupt: a young lawyer betrayed by political ambitions into irreparable folly.

to seduce and desert.

COLLAPSE

Origin:
1200–50; Middle English bitraien, equivalent to bi- be- + traien < Old French trair < Latin trādere to betray. See traitor

Related forms

be·tray·al, noun

be·tray·er, noun

pre·be·tray, verb (used with object)

pre·be·tray·al, noun

self-be·tray·al, noun

EXPAND

self-be·tray·ing, adjective

un·be·trayed, adjective

un·be·tray·ing, adjective

COLLAPSE

Synonyms
4. bare, expose, tell, divulge. 6. display, manifest, expose, uncover.

Antonyms
4, 6. hide, conceal.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source

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Betray is an LSAT word you need to know.

So is solely. Does it mean:

exclusively or only

a point made in an argument

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Example Sentences

People sometimes believe they are acting selflessly when they betray others.

Her sleep-deprived eyes and glazed smile betray the high-wire tension she feels as she rubs her stomach absentmindedly.

Others suspect that the bond market's strength may betray a suspicion that the economy is weaker than it looks.

EXPAND

People sometimes believe they are acting selflessly when they betray others.

Her sleep-deprived eyes and glazed smile betray the high-wire tension she feels as she rubs her stomach absentmindedly.

Others suspect that the bond market's strength may betray a suspicion that the economy is weaker than it looks.

My mistake in trying to pick up a rattlesnake is an example of how our models can betray us.

Tiny subconscious eye movements called microsaccades stave off blindness in all of us-and can even betray our hidden desires.

Two main factors can betray what type of lava is erupting: viscosity and temperature.

If he betrays you, then the next time you betray him back.

Language, clothes and even haircuts betray a person's ethnicity to the killing squads.

Its a sad thing that someone you have known for so long can betray you in such a way.

The successful brokers will be the ones who never betray their customers' trust.

Romney, betray what ought to have been their own religious heritage.

More and more people will be tempted to take money to betray the leaders' whereabouts.

These public apologies betray a naïveté about the nature of prejudice.

His answers seemed to betray a desire to stay off the jury.

At their crudest, such concerns betray an abject failure to understand the economics of trade.

Your statements betray nothing but your own ignorance.

The proposals also betray a desire to ring-fence deposit-taking firms and let everything else fry.

The governments are supposedly close allies, yet betray each other with monotonous regularity.

But this collective coyness may betray the fact that such reductions will simply be unfeasible.

The two presidents are too experienced to betray any ill feelings.

In other words, a rational, self-interested person would always betray his fellow prisoner.

And for them to withdraw from a difficult working environment would betray the poor people who depend upon their support.

These problems betray a larger problem with accountability efforts in general.

Amazon readers get mad when their favorite novelists betray them.

It can't be easy to play a character who is supposed to betray no emotion but stop short of making him seem robotic.

He faces certain death without a word to betray his fear or sense of.

Eyes that betray a complicated and quick mind and the tongue that makes me complice to those inner workings.

Both clerics have said things that betray a degree of intellectual sympathy with the protesters.

By using their own seductive powers as a means to betray their former abusers, the girls exercise their plan at breakneck speed.

Even the eye movements of the person who committed the crime could betray important information.

The shadowy operative was still in no hurry to betray any of those secrets:.

Still, even a cursory walk through the warrens of a hospital would reveal that doctors do sometimes betray confidentiality.

What gurus of the new can't see is how new fads betray us, for when you hustle entropy your progeny is chaos.

Your comments repeatedly betray your shallow understanding of science and mathematics.

Only the hunch of her back and arthritic knobs on the hands she habitually sheathes in gloves betray her age.

Its heavy-handed tactics betray the nervousness linked to the transition of power in any authoritarian system.

The police have offered a reward, hoping that underworld informers will betray the thieves.

We come to feel that to betray these values would be to betray the essential self.

Decorum can betray a writer and damage an otherwise good account of corruption.

Hollywood's dealings with the consumer-gadget companies also betray its habitual caution.

Clark-Frieson said, that many of her newspaper's board members have refused to betray their preference even in private.

All reverted to a puerile rant that betray an inability or unwillingness to engage in debate.

She did not betray the fear of math that seems to paralyze many teachers.

And yet their actions betray a deep desire to put off decisive action for as long as possible.

Spoofy posters on the wall betray the artist's adolescent impishness.

They are so selfish that they can betray you at any time.

His blogs betray someone who is steeped in theory and rhetoric but has little experience with carrying out policy.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

betray (bɪˈtreɪ)

—vb
1.	to aid an enemy of (one's nation, friend, etc); be a traitor to: to betray one's country
2.	to hand over or expose (one's nation, friend, etc) treacherously to an enemy
3.	to disclose (a secret, confidence, etc) treacherously
4.	to break (a promise) or be disloyal to (a person's trust)
5.	to disappoint the expectations of; fail: his tired legs betrayed him
6.	to show signs of; indicate: if one taps china, the sound betrays any faults
7.	to reveal unintentionally: his grin betrayed his satisfaction
8.	betray oneself to reveal one's true character, intentions, etc
9.	to lead astray; deceive
10.	euphemistic to seduce and then forsake (a woman)

[C13: from be- + trayen from Old French trair, from Latin trādere]

be'trayal

—n

be'trayer

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

betray

late 13c., bitrayen "mislead, deceive, betray," from M.E. be- + O.Fr. traine "betrayal, deception, deceit," from trair (Mod.Fr. trahir) "betray, deceive," from L. tradere "hand over," from trans- "across" + dare "to give" (see date (1)).

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"...and while they were eating, he said, "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me." And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, "Surely not I, Lord?""

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