as in traitor
one who betrays a trust or an allegiance
warned that all quislings would be punished without mercy
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Recent Examples of quisling
But the president's new FTC chair, Andrew Ferguson, is an outspoken Big Tech critic on X and is signaling the panel won't be stacked with pro-industry quislings.
—
Marc Caputo, Axios, 10 Feb. 2025
Erdogan, meanwhile, lambasted Kilicdaroglu as a quisling who is in cahoots with the West and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a Kurdish separatist group that both Ankara and Washington consider a terrorist entity.
—Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2023
And Kilicdaroglu was an easy mark for Erdogan, who has belittled him for years and cast him during the campaign as both a terrorist and a quisling for Western interests — accusations that stuck in the minds of some voters.
—Kareem Fahim, Washington Post, 27 May 2023
This may sound like a technical squabble among quislings.
—David Z. Morris, Slate Magazine, 6 June 2017
Marc Caputo, Axios, 10 Feb. 2025
Erdogan, meanwhile, lambasted Kilicdaroglu as a quisling who is in cahoots with the West and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a Kurdish separatist group that both Ankara and Washington consider a terrorist entity.
—Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2023
And Kilicdaroglu was an easy mark for Erdogan, who has belittled him for years and cast him during the campaign as both a terrorist and a quisling for Western interests — accusations that stuck in the minds of some voters.
—Kareem Fahim, Washington Post, 27 May 2023
This may sound like a technical squabble among quislings.
—David Z. Morris, Slate Magazine, 6 June 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for quisling
traitor
Noun
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Maybe not the most famous biopic but a quite effective one, with Paul Muni as the 19th-century French writer who speaks up for a Jewish captain tagged as a traitor.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
12 Mar. 2026
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Fears have been growing for the fate of the women after they were branded traitors by state media last week, for failing to sing the national anthem before their opening match of the Asian Cup, which is being held in Australia.—
Hilary Whiteman,
CNN Money,
11 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Quisling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/quisling. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.
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