Word Direct Answers

What does "betray" mean?

Betray: 2. To prove faithless or treacherous to, as to a trust or one who trusts; to be false to; to deceive; as, to betray a person or a cause. But when I rise, I shall find my legs betraying me. Johnson.

Additional senses

  1. 2.To violate the confidence of, by disclosing a secret, or that which one is bound in honor not to make known. Willing to serve or betray any government for hire. Macaulay.
  2. 3.To disclose or discover, as something which prudence would conceal; to reveal unintentionally. Be swift to hear, but cautious of your tongue, lest you betray your ignorance. T. Watts.
  3. 4.To mislead; to expose to inconvenience not foreseen to lead into error or sin. Genius . . . often betrays itself into great errors. T. Watts.
  4. 5.To lead astray, as a maiden; to seduce (as under promise of marriage) and then abandon.
  5. 6.To show or to indicate; -- said of what is not obvious at first, or would otherwise be concealed. All the names in the country betray great antiquity. Bryant.

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