Adjacent Words

treacherous definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: dangerously unstable and unpredictable; "treacherous winding roads"; "an unreliable trestle" [syn: treacherous, unreliable]
2: tending to betray; especially having a treacherous character as attributed to the Carthaginians by the Romans; "Punic faith"; "the perfidious Judas"; "the fiercest and most treacherous of foes"; "treacherous intrigues" [syn: punic, perfidious, treacherous]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 14th century 1. characterized by or manifesting treachery ; perfidious 2. a. likely to betray trust ; unreliable <a treacherous memory> b. providing insecure footing or support <treacherous quicksand> c. marked by hidden dangers, hazards, or perils Synonyms: see faithless • treacherously adverb • treacherousness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 guilty of or involving treachery. 2 (of the weather, ice, the memory, etc.) not to be relied on; likely to fail or give way. Derivatives: treacherously adv. treacherousness n. Etymology: ME f. OF trecherous f. trecheor a cheat f. trechier, trichier: see TRICK

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Treacherous Treach"er*ous, a. [See Treacher.] Like a traitor; involving treachery; violating allegiance or faith pledged; traitorous to the state or sovereign; perfidious in private life; betraying a trust; faithless. Loyal father of a treacherous son. --Shak. The treacherous smile, a mask for secret hate. --Cowper. Syn: Faithless; perfidious; traitorous; false; insidious; plotting. -- Treach"er*ous*ly, adv. -- Treach"er*ous*ness, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. If you describe someone as treacherous, you mean that they are likely to betray you and cannot be trusted. He publicly left the party and denounced its treacherous leaders... ADJ [disapproval] 2. If you say that something is treacherous, you mean that it is very dangerous and unpredictable. The current of the river is fast flowing and treacherous... ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Traitorous, perfidious, faithless, unfaithful, false, deceitful, insidious, disloyal, recreant, treasonable, betraying, untrustworthy.

Moby Thesaurus

Machiavellian, Punic, ambidextrous, artful, calculating, chancy, chiseling, collusive, covinous, crafty, crooked, cunning, dangerous, deceitful, deceptive, desultory, dishonest, disloyal, double, double-crossing, double-dealing, double-faced, double-minded, double-tongued, doublehearted, doubtful, dubious, duplicitous, faithless, false, false-principled, falsehearted, finagling, fraudulent, furtive, guileful, hairy, hazardous, indirect, infirm, insecure, insidious, insubstantial, jeopardous, misleading, perfidious, perilous, precarious, precariousness, provisional, recreant, risky, rocky, scheming, shaky, sharp, shifting, shifty, slippery, sneaky, surreptitious, temporary, tentative, ticklish, tottery, traitorous, trickish, tricky, two-faced, uncertain, undependable, underhand, underhanded, unfaithful, unfaithworthy, unhealthy, unloyal, unpredictable, unreliable, unsafe, unsolid, unsound, unstable, unsteadfast, unsteady, unsubstantial, unsure, untrue, untrustworthy, wicked, wily