A betrayal of trust is implicit in all these words. Treacherous implies strong moral condemnation. It refers to a tendency or a disposition to imperil or betray another to whom one has shown apparent loyalty and goodwill: a treacherous co-worker who denounces one to the boss; a treacherous dog who bites his master. Treacherous may also mean simply dangerous or unreliable, especially when applied to things: roads that become treacherous in rainy weather; treacherous times in our history. Disloyal is the most general word, suggesting either frank or covert hostility towards anything to which one has paid allegiance: disloyal to the standards of his profession; situations in which political dissent is thought disloyal . Unfaithful narrows its implications to one possibility in disloyal , being now used mainly for personal situations. A person would be disloyal to his country, but unfaithful to his wife. One aspect of false relates to these words, especially in the phrase, false friend. Here, it suggests a total or irreparable breach, as in the case of a treacherous friend. A disloyal or unfaithful friend, unlike a false friend, could conceivably have temporarily or accidentally erred and yet repent of his action later.

Specious and hypocritical both suggest a misleading contrast between appearance and reality or between stated beliefs and actions. Specious once suggested no more than a pleasing appearance, but now it is taken most often to mean a deliberately dissembling manner or to suggest something that seems true but proves false : specious reasoning; specious declarations of friendship. Hypocritical suggests either a conscious or unconscious discrepancy between what one claims to be and what one does. In the context of betrayal, the stress would fall on conscious dishonesty: hypocritically promising the electors lower taxes; hypocritically buying lottery tickets while preaching against gambling.

Treasonable is closely related to the aspect of disloyal that refers specifically to betrayal of cause or country; the word is more likely to be applied to acts than to people, and sometimes suggests behaviour approaching or tantamount to treason rather than outright betrayal: insisting that the protest demonstration was not treasonable , either in effect or intent. Traitorous , the most formal of these words, may now sound slightly old-fashioned to some ears. Like treasonable , it is most often restricted to betrayal of one’s country. In contrast, it is most appropriately used to describe people, although it can be used of acts as well. In any case, it suggests deliberate betrayal rather than a close approach to it: a traitorous officer who relayed defence secrets to the enemy.

ANOTNYMS: candid, honest, loyal, moral, sincere.