| / English Dictionary |
TREASON
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An act of deliberate betrayal
Synonyms:
betrayal; perfidy; treachery; treason
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("treason" 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 "treason"):
double-crossing; double cross (an act of betrayal)
sellout (a betrayal of one's principles principles, country, cause, etc.)
Derivation:
treasonist (someone who betrays his country by committing treason)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A crime that undermines the offender's government
Synonyms:
high treason; lese majesty; treason
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("treason" is a kind of...):
crime; criminal offence; criminal offense; law-breaking ((criminal law) an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act)
Derivation:
treasonist (someone who betrays his country by committing treason)
treasonous (having the character of, or characteristic of, a traitor)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Disloyalty by virtue of subversive behavior
Synonyms:
subversiveness; traitorousness; treason
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("treason" is a kind of...):
disloyalty (the quality of being disloyal)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "treason"):
betrayal (the quality of aiding an enemy)
Derivation:
treasonist (someone who betrays his country by committing treason)
treasonous (having the character of, or characteristic of, a traitor)
Context examples:
At such moments she found justification for her treason to her standards, for her violation of her own high ideals, and, most of all, for her tacit disobedience to her mother and father.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Whereas, by a statute made in the reign of his imperial majesty Calin Deffar Plune, it is enacted, that, whoever shall make water within the precincts of the royal palace, shall be liable to the pains and penalties of high-treason; notwithstanding, the said Quinbus Flestrin, in open breach of the said law, under colour of extinguishing the fire kindled in the apartment of his majesty’s most dear imperial consort, did maliciously, traitorously, and devilishly, by discharge of his urine, put out the said fire kindled in the said apartment, lying and being within the precincts of the said royal palace, against the statute in that case provided, etc. against the duty, etc.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Some were undone by lawsuits; others spent all they had in drinking, whoring, and gaming; others fled for treason; many for murder, theft, poisoning, robbery, perjury, forgery, coining false money, for committing rapes, or sodomy; for flying from their colours, or deserting to the enemy; and most of them had broken prison; none of these durst return to their native countries, for fear of being hanged, or of starving in a jail; and therefore they were under the necessity of seeking a livelihood in other places.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
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