Word.ws English Dictionary

turncoat

UK/ˈtəːn.kəʊt//ˈtɝn.koʊt/

turncoat noun: a traitor; one who turns against a previous affiliation or allegiance.

Noun

turncoat (plural turncoats)

  1. A traitor; one who turns against a previous affiliation or allegiance.
    • But some will cry Turncoat, and rip up old stories, / How I always pretended to be for the tories: […]1711 [December?] (date written), Jonathan Swift, “An Excellent New Song. Being the Intended Speech of a Famous Orator against Peace [i.e., Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham].”, in Thomas Sheridan...
    • Federal prosecutors say that in addition to turncoat witnesses, they are armed with secretly recorded conversations made in the Camden, N.J., office of Mr. Stanfa's lawyer, Salvatore Avena, who has also been indicted on racketeering charges.1995 October 6, Selwyn Raab, “Brother of Mob Turncoat Is Gunned Down”, in The New York Times

Verb

turncoat (third-person singular simple present turncoats, present participle turncoating, simple past and past participle turncoated)

  1. To act as a turncoat; to betray

turncoat meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada

turncoat in Hindi

turncoat, defector, traitor
दलबदलू dalbadlū

turncoat in Urdu

زمانہ ساز

turncoat in Malayalam

renegade, traitor, defector
കൂറുമാറ്റക്കാരൻ, കക്ഷിമാറ്റക്കാരൻ, സ്വപക്ഷത്യാഗി, സ്വപക്ഷത്തുനിന്നു മാറുന്നവൻ, കാലുമാറ്റക്കാരൻ, മറുകണ്ടം ചാടുന്നവൻ

turncoat in Kannada

ಕೂಟಮಾರುಗ, ನಾಡಹಗೆ, ಪಕ್ಷಾಂತರಗಾರ

Synonyms of turncoat

25 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of turncoat

Forms of turncoat

Noun
pluralturncoats
alternative formturn-coat
alternative formturn coat
Verb
third-person singular presentturncoats
present participleturncoating
past participleturncoated
pastturncoated

Origin of turncoat

A compound of turn + coat, reportedly derived from the sometime military practice of wearing uniform coats that were lined in material of a contrasting color, and which could be worn inside out to present a different appearance.

Words formed from turncoat

Phrases with turncoat

Questions about turncoat

What does turncoat mean?
Turncoat means a traitor; one who turns against a previous affiliation or allegiance.
What is turncoat in Hindi?
Turncoat in Hindi is दलबदलू (dalbadlū). See Turncoat meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is turncoat?
Turncoat can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce turncoat?
Turncoat is pronounced /ˈtəːn.kəʊt/ (UK).
What is the plural of turncoat?
The plural of turncoat is turncoats.

Words near turncoat in the dictionary

  1. turncap
  2. turncaps
  3. Turnchapel
  4. turncloak
  5. turncloaks
  6. turncoat
  7. turncoat witness
  8. turncoat witnesses
  9. turncoated
  10. turncoating
  11. turncoatism

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: turncoat (page history and authors); दलबदलू (Hindi) (page history and authors); turncoat (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); turncoat (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); turncoat (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). 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-turncoat.ogg, en-au-turncoat.ogg.

Cite this entry: “turncoat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/turncoat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.