Wiktionary

disloyal

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English, from Anglo-Norman desleal, desloial, equivalent to dis- ‎ loyal.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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disloyal (comparative more disloyal, superlative most disloyal)

  1. Not loyal, without loyalty.
    • 1536, Anne Boleyn, letter addressed to Henry VIII from the Tower of London, cited in Edward Herbert, The Life and Raigne of King Henry VIII, London: Thomas Whitaker, 1649, p. 383,[1]
      Good your Grace, let not any light fancy, or bad Counsel of mine enemies withdraw your Princely favour from me; neither let that stain, that unworthy stain of a disloyall heart towards your good Grace, ever cast so foul a blot on your most dutifull Wife, and the Infant Princesse your daughter […]
    • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
      […] Norway himself,
      With terrible numbers,
      Assisted by that most disloyal traitor
      The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict;
    • 1923, Willa Cather, One of Ours‎[2], Book One, Chapter 15:
      He told his mother he was glad to be back again. He sometimes felt as if it were disloyal to her for him to be so happy with Mrs. Erlich.
    • 1998, Tawfiq al-Hakim, “My Donkey and Hypocrisy”, in William Maynard Hutchins, transl., In the Tavern of Life and Other Stories‎[3], Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers, page 65:
      Embarrassed about leaving him, I asked him to accompany me. It would have been disloyal to let him broil in the heat of Cairo, while I went off to a summer resort.
    • 2024 August 4, Neil Vigdor, “Trump Says Georgia’s Governor Is Hampering His Efforts to Win There”, in The New York Times‎[4], →ISSN:
      “In my opinion, they want us to lose,” Mr. Trump said, accusing the state’s governor, Brian Kemp, and its secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, who is also a Republican, of being disloyal and trying to make life difficult for him.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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