Adjacent Words

Perfidy definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PER'FIDY, n. [L. perfidia; per and fides, faith.] The act of violating faith, a promise, vow or allegiance; treachery; the violation of a trust reposed. Perfidy is not applied to violations of contracts in ordinary pecuniary transactions, but to violations of faith or trust in friendship, in agency and office, in allegiance, in connubial engagements, and in the transactions of kings.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: betrayal of a trust [syn: perfidy, perfidiousness, treachery]
2: an act of deliberate betrayal [syn: treachery, betrayal, treason, perfidy]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -dies) Etymology: Latin perfidia, from perfidus faithless, from per- detrimental to + fides faith — more at per-, faith Date: 1592 1. the quality or state of being faithless or disloyal ; treachery 2. an act or an instance of disloyalty

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. breach of faith; treachery. Derivatives: perfidious adj. perfidiously adv. Etymology: L perfidia f. perfidus treacherous (as PER-, fidus f. fides faith)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Perfidy Per"fi*dy (p[~e]r"f[i^]*d[y^]), n.; pl. Perfidies (-d[i^]z). [L. perfidia, fr. L. perfidus faithless; per (cf. Skr. par[=a] away) + fides faith: cf. F. perfidie. See Faith.] The act of violating faith or allegiance; violation of a promise or vow, or of trust reposed; faithlessness; treachery. The ambition and perfidy of tyrants. --Macaulay. His perfidy to this sacred engagement. --DeQuincey.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Perfidy is the action of betraying someone or behaving very badly towards someone. (LITERARY) = treachery

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Perfidiousness, treachery, faithlessness, infidelity, traitorousness, treason, defection, disloyalty, breach of faith, foul play, Punic faith.

Moby Thesaurus

betrayal, deceit, dirty pool, dirty trick, dirty work, disloyalty, double-dealing, duplicity, faithlessness, falseheartedness, falseness, falsity, foul play, hypocrisy, infidelity, insidiousness, perfidiousness, sellout, traitorousness, treacherousness, treachery, treason, unfaithfulness