# betray

Pronunciation: say "bi-TRAY" /bɪˈtɹeɪ/

## Verb

1. To prove faithless or treacherous toward one who trusts you; to be false to a trust.
   - Simple: To be false to a person who trusts you.
   - _The minister betrayed the voters who had put their faith in him._
   - _Spies who betray their own country face severe punishment._
2. To deliver someone into the hands of an enemy through treachery or fraud, in violation of the trust placed in you.
   - Simple: To hand someone over to an enemy by breaking their trust.
   - _He betrayed the resistance fighters to the occupying forces for a handful of coins._
   - _Soldiers who betray their comrades in wartime are tried for treason._
3. To reveal something unintentionally, especially what prudence would keep concealed; to give it away by an outward sign.
   - Simple: To show something by accident, often a feeling you wanted to hide.
   - _His voice betrayed a nervousness he had tried hard to mask._
   - _Small details in the letter betray the author's true intentions._
4. To violate someone's confidence by disclosing a secret one was bound in honor not to make known.
   - Simple: To break someone's trust by telling a secret you promised to keep.
   - _He betrayed his old mentor by leaking their private conversations._
   - _Journalists who betray their sources quickly lose all credibility._
5. To disclose a secret deliberately, in willful violation of the confidence someone placed in you.
   - Simple: To tell a secret on purpose, breaking the trust of the person who shared it.
   - _He betrayed the company's trade secrets to a competitor._
   - _Editors who betray off-the-record remarks rarely get another interview._
6. To mislead someone, exposing them to unforeseen trouble or leading them into error or wrongdoing.
   - Simple: To mislead someone, leading them into trouble or error.
   - _His own overconfidence betrayed him into a costly mistake._
   - _Smooth talk can betray the unwary into bad bargains._
7. To lead astray by seduction, often under a promise of marriage, and then abandon.
   - Simple: To win someone's love with false promises and then leave them.
   - _He betrayed the young woman after swearing he would marry her._
   - _Old ballads warn of charming men who betray and abandon innocent girls._

## Origin

From Middle English betrayen or bitrayen, "to commit an act of treason against," equivalent to be- + tray ("to betray"); it is related to words like traitor, treason, and tradition. The modern sense "to reveal something unintentionally" comes from influence from or merger with English bewray ("to reveal, divulge"), which sounds and means something similar. Its resemblance to German betrügen and Dutch bedriegen is coincidental.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/betray (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).