How to Use betray in a Sentence

betray

verb
Definition of betraynext
Synonyms for betraynext
  • She is very loyal and would never betray a friend.
  • She coughed, betraying her presence behind the door.
  • She betrayed her own people by supporting the enemy.
  • They betrayed their country by selling its secrets to other governments.
  • Ethan and Cameron feel betrayed and go off to ride jet skis.
    — Griff Griffin, Newsweek, 7 Jan. 2025
  • If not Arnold van den Bergh, who did betray the Franks?
    — Ruth Franklin, The New York Review of Books, 11 May 2022
  • His daughter grows up and falls for the son of the man the king thought his wife betrayed him for.
    — Mike Deehan, Axios, 12 July 2024
  • But then, just on the back half of 2022, her back legs started to betray her.
    — Globe Columnist, BostonGlobe.com, 10 Jan. 2023
  • Would my smile, with its crooked teeth, betray me as just a kid?
    — Emily Ziff Griffin, The New Yorker, 2 Sep. 2021
  • Six years into the war, Mr. Putin turned the chief mufti of Chechnya to betray the rebel cause.
    — New York Times, 29 Mar. 2022
  • Both have now betrayed the trust those allies placed in them.
    — Bloomberg Opinion, Twin Cities, 21 Feb. 2025
  • So the gist of this story so far is that Ohtani’s close friend betrayed him.
    — Los Angeles Times, 30 Mar. 2024
  • To wear a mask, perhaps above all, is to betray the leader.
    — Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 9 Oct. 2020
  • At such moments, the sky would betray signs of pale blue behind the gray.
    — Washington Post, 22 Jan. 2022
  • Bernard warns her that one of her team will betray her, that one of them did not come back from the mission the same.
    — Andrew Walsh, EW.com, 1 Aug. 2022
  • When things seem to start changing for the better, he is betrayed and escapes to the city.
    — Marta Balaga, Variety, 2 Aug. 2024
  • Naomi got hit with the briefcase, and Nia was betrayed.
    — Brian Mazique, Forbes, 4 Jan. 2025
  • Democrats say the facts are undisputed and that Trump betrayed the public.
    — Ephrat Livni, Quartz, 19 Dec. 2019
  • But all that matters is that there be no change in the Fed’s stance, and there have been no numbers that have betrayed the Fed.
    — Jim Cramer, CNBC, 13 Oct. 2024
  • All of those runs will go into the book as earned but Burnes has been betrayed by his defense.
    — Jr Radcliffe, Journal Sentinel, 30 Mar. 2023
  • But, early in the third set, Alcaraz’s body betrayed him: his arm cramped, then his legs.
    — Gerald Marzorati, The New Yorker, 12 June 2023
  • The villagers know they have been betrayed, not least by themselves.
    — Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, 3 Sep. 2024
  • Above, a dark disk hangs where the Sun once was, a brilliant circle at its edges betraying hints of the Sun’s light.
    — Science Near Me, Discover Magazine, 29 June 2023
  • The sheriff … lied to my parents … bold-face lied and betrayed the trust of shocked and grieving parents.
    — Peter Van Sant, CBS News, 8 Feb. 2025
  • But, otherwise, the Con betrayed little in the way of moral outrage.
    — Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 17 Nov. 2023
  • If the farms were failing, and Britain was likely to betray them to the Argentines, what was there left to stay for?
    — Larissa MacFarquhar, The New Yorker, 29 June 2020
  • In the Vietnam war, Afghan Pathans would have been ideal troops but in wars fought against Moslems would have betrayed us.
    — Matt Schoenfeldt, National Review, 10 Dec. 2023
  • She was hit, harangued and betrayed by a son who couldn’t help himself.
    — Carol Marbin Miller, Miami Herald, 2 Jan. 2025
  • Driving down the promenade in Davos, Forrest betrayed some frustration with his counterparts who have used the zeitgeist shift as cover to change course.
    — Justin Worland, TIME, 25 Feb. 2025
  • Because the fog sometimes turns out to be the actual transmitter of illumination—the clarity rising from within the confusions—any simple summary or attempt to distill objective lessons betrays his mind.
    — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'betray.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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