How do you use the word "betray" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "betray": A few words may betray a man's true character. John is not a man to betray you.

Betray Meaning

/bɪˈtɹeɪ/

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

verbTo deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly.

verbTo prove faithless or treacherous to, as to a trust or one who trusts; to be false to; to deceive.

Sentence Examples

A few words may betray a man's true character.

John is not a man to betray you.

He was offered money to betray his colleagues.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

fail

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

The spy decided to ____ his country by selling secrets to the enemy.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

A true friend would never ____ your secrets to anyone else city.

Word Origin & History

From Middle English betrayen, bitrayen (“to commit an act of treason against”), equivalent to be- + tray (“to betray”). Middle English bi- is from Old English be- (“be-”), from Proto-Germanic *bi- (“be-”), from Proto-Germanic *bi (“near, by”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi (“at, near”). Compare also traitor, treason, tradition. The modern sense “to disclose, discover, reveal unintentionally” is due to influence from or merger with English bewray (“to reveal, divulge”), which is similar in sound and meaning. The similarity with German betrügen, Dutch bedriegen, from Proto-West Germanic *bidreugan (“to betray, deceive”), is coincidental.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"I maruell I heare no nevves of Dromio, either hee ſlackes the matter, or betrayes his maiſter, I dare not motion anie thing to Stellio, till I knovve vvhat my boy hath don; Ile hunt him out, if the loiterſacke be gone ſpringing into a tauerne, Ile fetch him reeling out." — c. 1590 (date written), [John Lyly], Mother Bombie. […], London: […] Thomas Scarlet for Cuthbert Burby, published 1594, →OCLC, Act II, scene ii, signature C3, verso:

"The dead leap at the throat, destroy The meaning of the day; dark forms Have scaled your walls, and spies betray Old secrets to amorphous swarms." — 1941, Theodore Roethke, “Feud”, in Open House, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC; republished in The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, London: Faber and Faber […], 1968, →OCLC, page 4:

"Jones’ sad eyes betray a pervasive pain his purposefully spare dialogue only hints at, while the perfectly cast [Josh] Brolin conveys hints of playfulness and warmth while staying true to the craggy stoicism at the character’s core." — 2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The A.V. Club:

"Again, to take a less extreme example, there is no denying that although the dialects of northern France retained their fundamentally Romance character, they betray many Germanic influences in phonetics and vocabulary, […]" — 1966, Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch, French rural history:

Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words