betray
/bi'trei/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb:
- To be disloyal to someone who trusts you: To act against the confidence or faith placed in you, often by helping an enemy or revealing secrets.
- To reveal or show something, often unintentionally: To allow something hidden, like a feeling or a fact, to become known.
- To be unfaithful in a relationship: To be sexually unfaithful to a romantic partner.
- To fail or desert someone in need: To disappoint someone by not providing help or support when it is expected or required.
Usage Examples
- Verb:
- He was accused of trying to betray his country to a foreign power. (He was accused of acting disloyally against his nation.)
- Her nervous hands betrayed her anxiety during the speech. (Her hands unintentionally revealed her anxiety.)
- She felt he had betrayed her when she discovered his affair. (She felt he had been unfaithful to her.)
- My memory betrayed me just when I needed the answer most. (My memory failed me at a critical moment.)
Advanced Usage
"to betray a confidence": To reveal a secret that someone trusted you with.
- By telling her secret, he betrayed her confidence completely.
"to betray oneself": To unintentionally reveal one's true character, feelings, or intentions.
- He tried to sound calm, but his trembling voice betrayed himself.
Variants and Related Words
Betrayal (n): The act of betraying someone or something.
- The spy's actions were an act of betrayal against his agency.
Betrayer (n): A person who betrays someone or something.
- In the story, the betrayer was a trusted friend.
Synonyms
- Deceive: To cause someone to believe something that is not true.
- Double-cross: To betray someone by pretending to be loyal while secretly helping their opponent.
- Expose: To make something visible or known.
- Forsake: To abandon or desert someone.
Related Phrasal Verbs
(Note: "Betray" is not commonly used in phrasal verb constructions. Its meanings are typically expressed directly.)
Related Idioms
To betray one's roots/principles: To act in a way that is contrary to where one comes from or what one claims to believe in.
- By supporting the policy, the politician was accused of betraying his principles.
A kiss of betrayal: An act of betrayal disguised as an act of affection or friendship, alluding to Judas betraying Jesus with a kiss.
- His friendly advice turned out to be a kiss of betrayal, leading to my downfall.
Verb
- cause someone to believe an untruth
- The insurance company deceived me when they told me they were covering my house
- give away information about somebody
- He told on his classmate who had cheated on the exam
- be sexually unfaithful to one's partner in marriage
- She cheats on her husband
- Might her husband be wandering?
- disappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake
- His sense of smell failed him this time
- His strength finally failed him
- His children failed him in the crisis
- deliver to an enemy by treachery
- Judas sold Jesus
- The spy betrayed his country
- reveal unintentionally
- Her smile betrayed her true feelings