betraying

Pluralbetrayings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of betray.

   Betraying a close friend leaves wounds that rarely heal.

   The agent spent years betraying his own country for money.

   Note

   Every meaning of betray is transitive, so the participle nearly always takes an object: betraying a friend, betraying a secret, betraying one's nerves. That range runs from deliberate treachery to giving something away by accident. After be it forms the progressive (she is betraying us). As a gerund it heads a noun phrase (betraying a confidence is hard to forgive).

2. 2
   adjective

   Revealing or giving away something, such as a feeling or secret, that was meant to be concealed.

   A betraying flush spread across his cheeks as the lie unraveled.

   Her voice held a betraying tremor she could not suppress.

   Similartelltale, revealing

   Note

   This adjective is gradable. It compares with more and most rather than -er and -est: a more betraying silence, the most betraying detail of all. Position tells it apart from the verb form. Before a noun it is the adjective (a betraying tremor). With an object after it, it is the participle (betraying a friend).

3. 3
   noun

   The act of breaking faith with someone; a betrayal of trust or loyalty.

   Similarbetrayal, treachery

   Oppositeloyalty

   Note

   The noun has a longer history than the participle beside it. It goes back to Middle English, where it was already spelled betraying, bytrayenge or betraȝyng. Unlike the gerund, it is countable and takes a plural. Walter Raleigh's The Historie of the World (1614) lists betrayings alongside forswearings, oppressions and poisonings among the crimes of kings.

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