Meanings
plural treacheries
- countableuncountableDeliberate, often calculated, disregard for trust or faith.
Suddenly, in the midst of high-camp treachery and sleuthery, each character does a star turn, breaking out in song.
2002 January 3, Joan Dupont, “MOVIE GUIDE : 8 Femmes”, in The New York Times - countableuncountableThe act of violating the confidence of another, usually for personal gain.
- countableAn act or instance of treachery.
These submerged treacheries left an atmosphere. Even two such practised obliterators of their species as Bradly and Podson could not fail to note that each was secreting a certain reservation of opinion on the other.
1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 78Synonyms: Punic faith, prodition, treacherousness, betrayal, breach of promise, breach of trust, double-dealing, Judas kiss
Synonyms & antonyms
nounTreason.
nounAn act or instance of treachery.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Frenchtricherie
- Middle Englishtrecherie
- Englishtreachery
From Middle English trecherie, from Old French tricherie, trecherie, from tricher, trichier (“to cheat”).
More words from Middle English, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek προδοσία
- προδοσία (prodosía)the act of violating the confidence of another
Bulgarian измяна, предателство
- измяна (izmjana)deliberate disregard for trust or faith
- предателство (predatelstvo)deliberate disregard for trust or faith
Chinese Mandarin 背信棄義 /背信弃义
- 背信棄義 /背信弃义 (bèixìnqìyì)deliberate disregard for trust or faith
Esperanto perfido
- perfidothe act of violating the confidence of another
Finnish petos, petos
- petosdeliberate disregard for trust or faith
- petosthe act of violating the confidence of another
French traîtrise
- traîtrisedeliberate disregard for trust or faith
German Verrat
- Verratdeliberate disregard for trust or faith
Greek δολιότητα, κακοπιστία
- δολιότητα (doliótita)deliberate disregard for trust or faith
- κακοπιστία (kakopistía)deliberate disregard for trust or faith
- επιβουλή (epivoulí)deliberate disregard for trust or faith
- προδοσία (prodosía)the act of violating the confidence of another
Italian tradimento, slealtà
- tradimentodeliberate disregard for trust or faith
- slealtàdeliberate disregard for trust or faith
- ingannodeliberate disregard for trust or faith
Japanese 裏切り
- 裏切り (uragiri)deliberate disregard for trust or faith
Latin perfidia
- perfidiadeliberate disregard for trust or faith
Māori kaikaiwaiūtanga, kaikaiwaiū
- kaikaiwaiūtangadeliberate disregard for trust or faith
- kaikaiwaiūdeliberate disregard for trust or faith
- kaikaiwaiūthe act of violating the confidence of another
- kaikaiwaiūtangathe act of violating the confidence of another
Russian преда́тельство, изме́на
- преда́тельство (predátelʹstvo)deliberate disregard for trust or faith
- изме́на (izména)deliberate disregard for trust or faith
- вероло́мство (verolómstvo)deliberate disregard for trust or faith
- преда́тельство (predátelʹstvo)the act of violating the confidence of another
- изме́на (izména)the act of violating the confidence of another
Spanish alevosía, aleve
- alevosíathe act of violating the confidence of another
- alevethe act of violating the confidence of another
Swedish svek, förräderi
- svekdeliberate disregard for trust or faith
- förräderideliberate disregard for trust or faith
Tagalog kataksilan
- kataksilandeliberate disregard for trust or faith
Welsh brad, bradychiad
- braddeliberate disregard for trust or faith
- bradychiaddeliberate disregard for trust or faith
- bradthe act of violating the confidence of another
Cite this entry
treachery. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/treachery
“treachery.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/treachery. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “treachery,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/treachery.
Source: treachery on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.