Dictionary

perfidy en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɝ.fɪ.di/ (US)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈpɜː.fɪ.di/ (UK)

Etymology

From Middle French perfidie, from Latin perfidia from perfidus (“faithless, treacherous, false”), from fides (“faith”); related to, for example, English fidelity.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A state or act of violating faith or allegiance; violation of a promise or vow, or of trust.
2. (countable, in warfare, qualifier:international law, uncountable) An illegitimate act of deception, such as using symbols like the Red Cross or white flag in a false claim of surrender to gain proximity to an enemy for purposes of attack.
   • Ruses of war are legitimate so long as they do not involve treachery or perfidy on the part of the belligerent resorting to them. 2008, Sidney Axinn, A Moral Military, page 84:
   • Stratagems must be carefully distinguished strategy from perfidy, since the former are allowed, whereas the latter is prohibited. 1921, Lassa Oppenheim with Ronald Francis Roxburgh, International law: a treatise, page 229:
   • Abuse of a protective emblem amounts to perfidy and constitutes a war crime under the customary law of armed conflict. 1993, Leslie C. Green, The contemporary law of armed conflict, page 89:
   • Cyberattacks almost inevitably involve an element of deception, such as tricking a user to click on a malicious link. So, to what extent could cyberattacks count as perfidy and therefore be illegal given international humanitarian law? 2012 June 5, Patrick Lin, Neil Rowe, Fritz Allhoff, “Is It Possible to Wage a Just Cyberwar?”, in The Atlantic:
3. (countable, uncountable) A state or act of deceit.
   • Letterman roared about the perfidy of lying politicos. 2008 October 16, “McCain expected to make amends on Letterman show”, in Los Angeles Times:
   • Honda Motor Co. is the latest victim of e-mail perfidy, which started when a phony chain letter promised that the automaker would give away free cars. 2000 July 17, “Honda becomes chain letter victim”, in eWeek:
   • Germans could not get over the perfidy of it. It was unbelievable that the English, having degenerated to the stage where suffragettes heckled the Prime Minister and defied the police, were going to fight. 1962, Barbara Wertheim Tuchman, The Guns of August, page 154:

Forms

Relateds

perfidious · perfidiously

Synonyms

Judas kiss · betrayal · breach of trust · perfidy · dupery · mislead · deceptiveness · jugglery · perfidiousness · deceit · double-dealing · deception · underhandedness · fraudulence · hype · deceit · duplicity · rinky-dink · prodition · ruse · dissimulation · deceitfulness · swike · treachery · betrayal · trickery · treason · legerdemain · trickery · imposition · underhandedness · stab in the back · swack · treacherousness · list · hocus-pocus · Punic faith · perfidiousness · treachery · perfidiousness · tergiversation · fiddle · fraudulency · Punic faith · perfidy · subterfuge · breach of promise · fetch · trickery · prestidigitation · traitory · sleight of hand

Translations (37)

pl perfidia (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · sv svek (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · cs zrada (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · sv perfiditet (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · az vəfasızlıq (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · bg предателство (false deception of surrender or peace which will be broken) · hu álnokság (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · sv förrädiskt förfarande (false deception of surrender or peace which will be broken) · fa بیوفایی (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · az namərdlik (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · ru вероло́мство (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · sv förräderi (false deception of surrender or peace which will be broken) · hu hitszegés (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · uk віроломство (false deception of surrender or peace which will be broken) · sv trolöshet (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · ru преда́тельство (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · la perfidia (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · bg измяна (false deception of surrender or peace which will be broken) · ca perfídia (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · fr perfidie (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · fi sotapetos (false deception of surrender or peace which will be broken) · uk зрада (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · es perfidia (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · ru изме́на (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · hu álnokság (false deception of surrender or peace which will be broken) · fi petollisuus (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · ru вероло́мство (false deception of surrender or peace which will be broken) · uk віроломство (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · fi kavaluus (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · sv förräderi (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · bg коварство (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · hu hűtlenség (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · cs proradnost (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · az xəyanətkarlıq (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · hu perfídia (false deception of surrender or peace which will be broken) · ro perfidie (the act of violating faith or allegiance) · pt perfídia (the act of violating faith or allegiance)