traitor
UK/ˈtɹeɪtə(ɹ)//ˈtɹeɪtɚ/
traitor noun: someone who violates an allegiance and betrays their country; someone guilty of treason; one who, in breach of trust, delivers their country to an enemy, or yields up any fort or place entrusted to their defense, or surrenders an army or body of troops to the enemy, unless when vanquished.
Noun
traitor (plural traitors)
- Someone who violates an allegiance and betrays their country; someone guilty of treason; one who, in breach of trust, delivers their country to an enemy, or yields up any fort or place entrusted to their defense, or surrenders an army or body of troops to the enemy, unless when vanquished.
- After World War I, the communists and Jews were accused to be traitors by the German right wing (the "stab-in-the-back myth"), ultimately culminating in their persecution and massacre.
- My Lord of Hereford here whom you call King, / Is a foule traitour to proud Herefords King, / And if you crowne him let me propheſie, / The bloud of Engliſh ſhall manure the ground, / And future ages groane for this foule act, [...]1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597...
- Someone who takes arms and levies war against their country; or one who aids an enemy in conquering their country.
- Synonyms:
- turncoat, withersake, apostate, balimbing, butterfly, changeling, defector, runagate, transfuge, turncloak
- One who betrays any confidence or trust.
- It's second nature now to think myself a traitor
To myself, to all I've ever burdened with my rotting visage
I can't breathe, the weight of all I've disappointed crushes me
If I were happy, it would feel as if I couldn't trust me2019, Patricia Taxxon, “Cold Water”, in Doraemon - It took you two weeks
To go off and date her
Guess you didn't cheat
But you're still, you're still a traitor
Yeah, you're still a traitor2021, Olivia Rodrigo, Dan Nigro, “Traitor”, in Sour, performed by Olivia Rodrigo
- Synonyms:
- betrayer, fink, snake, snake in the grass, backstabber, cockatrice, double-crosser, quisling, rat, ratter
- It's second nature now to think myself a traitor
Verb
traitor (third-person singular simple present traitors, present participle traitoring, simple past and past participle traitored)
Adjective
traitor (comparative more traitor, superlative most traitor)
- Traitorous.
- to find a subject staid and wise
Already half turn'd traitor by surprise1735, Alexander Pope, “The Second Satire of Dr. John Donne”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume II, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC
- to find a subject staid and wise
traitor meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
traitor in Hindi
- one who betrays; a betrayer
- ग़द्दार ġaddār, द्रोही drohī, विद्रोही vidrohī, देशद्रोही deśadrohī
traitor in Tamil
- one who betrays; a betrayer
- துரோகி turōki, தேசத்துரோகி tēcatturōki
traitor in Marathi
- traitor, betrayer
- देशद्रोही deśadrohī, विश्वासघातकी viśvāsghātakī
- traitor, betrayer, backstabber
- द्रोही drohī
traitor in Urdu
- one who betrays; a betrayer
- غَدَّار ġaddār, خِیانَت گَر xiyānat gar
More languagesFewer languages
- traitor in Bengali
- গদ্দার goddar, রাজাকার rajakar
- traitor in Telugu
- ద్రోహి drōhi, దేశద్రోహి dēśadrōhi
- traitor in Malayalam
- ഒറ്റുകാരൻ oṟṟukāraṉ
- traitor in Kannada
- ದೇಶದ್ರೋಹಿ, ವಿಶ್ವಾಸಘಾತಕ, ದ್ರೋಹಿ, ಎರಡುಬಗೆದವನು
- traitor in Punjabi
- ਗੱਦਾਰ gaddār
- traitor in Gujarati
- ગદ્દાર
- traitor in Odia
- ବିଶ୍ବାସଘାତକ
- traitor in Sanskrit
- पक्षहर pakṣahara, द्रोहप्रवेशक drohapraveśaka, राजद्रोही rājadrohī
- traitor in Nepali
- देशद्रोही deśdrohī, गद्दार gaddār
- traitor in Pashto
- خاين xāyen, غدار ǧadār
- traitor in Tagalog
- traidor
- traitor in Arabic
- خَائِن ḵāʔin, خَائِنَة ḵāʔina, غَدَّار ḡaddār, غَدَّارَة ḡaddāra
- traitor in Malay
- pembelot, penderhaka, pengkhianat
- traitor in Indonesian
- pembelot, pengkhianat
- traitor in Thai
- กบฏ gà-bòt, ผู้ทรยศ pûu-tɔɔ-rá-yót, คนทรยศ kon tɔɔ-rá-yót
- traitor in Vietnamese
- kẻ phản bội
Examples of traitor in a sentence
- Sire, do I have your permission to execute this traitor?
- Traitors should be sent to the Tower!
- Those grudgingly planning to vote for Labour have been called traitors to the community and self-hating Jews.
Synonyms of traitor
21 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of traitor
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | traitors |
| alternative form (obsolete) | traitour |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | traitors |
| present participle | traitoring |
| past participle | traitored |
| past | traitored |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more traitor |
| superlative | most traitor |
Origin of traitor
From Middle English traitor, traitour, traytour, from Old French traïtor (French traître), from Latin trāditor. Displaced native Middle English swike from Old English swica (“traitor”), and Middle English proditour and traditour borrowed directly from Latin. The general Old English word denoting "traitor" was lǣwa or lǣwend. Doublet of traditor and treason.
Words formed from traitor
Phrases with traitor
Words that rhyme with traitor
- translator
- alligator
- vibrator
- freighter
- terminator
- waiter
- crater
- curator
- gaiter
- incubator
- plater
- pulsator
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- skater
- cater
- collator
- creator
- dictator
- equator
- escalator
- greater
- later
- relator
- rotator
- collimator
- dilator
- excavator
- frater
- gator
- inflater
- locator
- narrator
- palpator
- saeter
- slater
- viator
- awaiter
- baiter
- citator
- corrugator
- dater
- deflator
- dominator
- emasculator
- glossator
- gyrator
- hater
- hydrator
- legator
- levator
- mandator
- mater
- migrator
- negator
- nitrator
- plaiter
- procreator
- spectator
- tater
- titrator
- 'mater
Questions about traitor
- What does traitor mean?
- Traitor means someone who violates an allegiance and betrays their country; someone guilty of treason; one who, in breach of trust, delivers their country to an enemy, or yields up any fort or place entrusted to their defense, or surrenders an army or body of troops to the enemy, unless when vanquished.
- What is traitor in Hindi?
- Traitor in Hindi is ग़द्दार (ġaddār), द्रोही (drohī), विद्रोही (vidrohī). See Traitor meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is traitor?
- Traitor can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce traitor?
- Traitor is pronounced /ˈtɹeɪtə(ɹ)/ (UK).
- What is the plural of traitor?
- The plural of traitor is traitors.
Words near traitor in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: traitor (page history and authors); देशद्रोही (Marathi) (page history and authors); traitor (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਗੱਦਾਰ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); traitor (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); traitor (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-traitor.ogg.
Cite this entry: “traitor.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/traitor. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.