treason

[tree-zuh n] /ˈtri zən/
noun
1.
the offense of acting to overthrow one's government or to harm or kill its sovereign.
2.
a violation of allegiance to one's sovereign or to one's state.
3.
the betrayal of a trust or confidence; breach of faith; treachery.
Origin
1175-1225; Middle English tre(i)so(u)n < Anglo-French; Old French traïson < Latin trāditiōn- (stem of trāditiō) a handing over, betrayal. See tradition
Related forms
supertreason, noun
Synonyms
1. T reason , sedition mean disloyalty or treachery to one's country or its government. T reason is any attempt to overthrow the government or impair the well-being of a state to which one owes allegiance; the crime of giving aid or comfort to the enemies of one's government. S edition is any act, writing, speech, etc., directed unlawfully against state authority, the government, or constitution, or calculated to bring it into contempt or to incite others to hostility, ill will or disaffection; it does not amount to treason and therefore is not a capital offense. 2. See disloyalty.
Examples from the web for treason
  • Since the president is sworn to protect the country from all enemies, his failure to do so is treason.
  • As far as any science is concerned, he committed high treason, and he should be dealt with accordingly.
  • It would be a treason to my first consciousness to un-Jew myself.
  • Seventy opposition leaders were charged with treason.
  • Sending these messages east and west was illegal-treason, in fact-but it was also clearly moral in its primal impulse.
  • They regarded secession as treason, and emancipation as a noble cause.
  • treason in the executive branch of the government was estopped.
  • The purpose of that was not specifically to define treason, but to limit what it was.
  • Trapped in the hellish flames of treason their words fan.
  • Perhaps she does not with to rest her case for the meaning of treason upon one or two traitors.
British Dictionary definitions for treason

treason

/ˈtriːzən/
noun
1.
violation or betrayal of the allegiance that a person owes his sovereign or his country, esp by attempting to overthrow the government; high treason
2.
any treachery or betrayal
Derived Forms
treasonable, treasonous, adjective
treasonableness, noun
treasonably, adverb
Word Origin
C13: from Old French traïson, from Latin trāditiō a handing over; see tradition, traditor
Word Origin and History for treason
n.

early 13c., from Anglo-French treson, from Old French traison (11c.; Modern French trahison), from Latin traditionem (nominative traditio) "a handing over, delivery, surrender" (see tradition). Old French form influenced by the verb trair "betray." In old English law, high treason is violation by a subject of his allegiance to his sovereign or to the state; distinguished from petit treason, treason against a subject, such as murder of a master by his servant.