A man who built his entire administration upon demanding unctuous loyalty from his allies now finds himself wounded by their shabby betrayal. You'd have to go back to one of Spain's humpbacked Hapsburgs to find court perfidy of the variety that is currently depleting the president's power.—Jack Hitt, Mother Jones, January & February 2006The petty Robespierres on the public stage appeal to "the real America" to rise up in fury against presidential perfidies; yet in poll after poll the real America keeps telling Washington that it has gone bonkers.—David L. Kirp, Nation, 8 Mar. 1999I lived there off and on for twenty years, through graduate studies, marriage, the end of marriage, the perfidies of middle age, all the while unaware of passion.—Susan Barron, New England Monthly, October 1989
They are guilty of perfidy.
his wife's perfidy was a moment of uncharacteristic weakness
Recent Examples on the Web
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.
The prior month, Vice President JD Vance had lodged his own complaints about Europe’s alleged perfidy, threatening that the United States might withdraw its security guarantees from Europe if the EU continued to aggressively regulate U.S. tech companies.—Anu Bradford, Foreign Affairs, 21 Apr. 2025 Despite high trade deficits, the U.S. economy is strong
Trump and his advisers point to America’s lopsided trade numbers—year after year of huge deficits—as proof of foreigners’ perfidy.—Time, 9 Apr. 2025 Jane’s fiercely unforgiving tone was adopted by militant Irish nationalists for whom the famine stood as the ultimate proof of English perfidy.—Fintan O'Toole, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2025 But what Neil is accused of is something well beyond cunning or perfidy or faithlessness, well beyond questionable morality.—Mikal Gilmore, Rolling Stone, 16 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for perfidy
Word History
Etymology
Latin perfidia, from perfidus faithless, from per- detrimental to + fides faith — more at per-, faith
Share