Synonym Chooser

How is the word faithless different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of faithless are disloyal, false, perfidious, traitorous, and treacherous. While all these words mean "untrue to what should command one's fidelity or allegiance," faithless applies to any failure to keep a promise or pledge or any breach of allegiance or loyalty.

faithless allies

When can disloyal be used instead of faithless?

The synonyms disloyal and faithless are sometimes interchangeable, but disloyal implies a lack of complete faithfulness to a friend, cause, leader, or country.

disloyal to their country

When could false be used to replace faithless?

In some situations, the words false and faithless are roughly equivalent. However, false stresses the fact of failing to be true in any manner ranging from fickleness to cold treachery.

betrayed by false friends

How do perfidious and faithless relate to one another?

Perfidious adds to faithless the implication of an incapacity for fidelity or reliability.

a perfidious double-crosser

When is traitorous a more appropriate choice than faithless?

While the synonyms traitorous and faithless are close in meaning, traitorous implies either actual treason or a serious betrayal of trust.

traitorous acts punishable by death

When might treacherous be a better fit than faithless?

The meanings of treacherous and faithless largely overlap; however, treacherous implies readiness to betray trust or confidence.

a treacherous adviser

Examples Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of faithless In Her Car follows Lydia, a psychologist with anxiety issues on her way to Kharkiv to divorce her faithless husband who spots a young woman at a bus station and decides to give a young woman a lift. Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Feb. 2024 She then can be redeemed only by killing the faithless Prince. Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 8 Aug. 2023 The company is suing the faithless investors and is being sued itself by other investors who claim they were misled. WIRED, 28 Feb. 2023 And only around 160 faithless ballots have been cast in U.S. history. Fortune, 30 Nov. 2020 See all Example Sentences for faithless 
Recent Examples of Synonyms for faithless
Adjective
  • Simultaneously, Hal is on a call with President Rayburn to brief him on Penn's traitorous schemes.
    Samantha Stutsman, People.com, 5 Nov. 2024
  • Assassinations first target Republicans deemed traitorous.
    Charles Bethea, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2024
Adjective
  • But when compared to last year’s unreliable defense that failed to close out numerous close games, much less help accelerate blowouts, what the unit is doing this year is a breath of fresh air in Boulder.
    Kyle Newman, The Denver Post, 16 Nov. 2024
  • Wendy’s revealed that this AI system helped power its recent $1 Frosty promotion, which took aim at competitors’ unreliable ice cream machines.
    Francisco Velasquez, Quartz, 7 Nov. 2024
Adjective
  • Bear in mind that his campaign was replete with false claims — about immigration, jobs, inflation, crime and more.
    Paul Krugman, The Mercury News, 13 Nov. 2024
  • Oz is the Penguin now — like everyone in Batman’s Rogues Gallery, a caricature of his own trauma, drawn to criminal means of false liberation.
    Andy Andersen, Vulture, 10 Nov. 2024
Adjective
  • In the film, Stewart candidly revealed that Andy had been unfaithful throughout their 30 years together, a betrayal that would ultimately contribute to the unraveling of their relationship.
    Sandra Rose Salathe, Flow Space, 4 Nov. 2024
  • But a president who commits a crime is unfaithful to both, because crimes are committed with corrupt motives.
    Stephen Woolpert, The Mercury News, 3 Oct. 2024
Adjective
  • Another round of winter weather will sweep across Colorado’s Front Range and Eastern Plains on Friday, with forecasters expecting treacherous road conditions and nearly 3 feet of snow in some areas.
    Katie Langford, The Denver Post, 7 Nov. 2024
  • Explaining electoral college math feels easy peasy (thank you, genius New York Times graphics) compared to the treacherous emotional terrain many of us will cross this week.
    Chloe Schama, Vogue, 5 Nov. 2024

Thesaurus Entries Near faithless

Cite this Entry

“Faithless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/faithless. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on faithless

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