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Glite Dictionary
🤝 Betrayal for gain 🕵️ A betrayer 🎟️ All tickets sold
sellout

sellout

12 7.8
An act of betraying principles for personal gain
  • noun
  • /ˈsɛlˌaʊt/
  • Informal
translation icon : traición
  • " So staying married and having well-adjusted kids makes me some kind of sellout, is that it?

And to me, this is the perfect like political sellout.

Examples

  • When he obeyed the trustees, they thought that he was a sellout.

    Academic text (2010)

  • " To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully.

    Blog text (13)

  • But after this complete and total sellout, nobody serious will ever take him seriously again.

    Blog text (21)

  • You have been called by some in the community a traitor, a sellout, an Uncle Tom.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • The "win" by Republicans is the sellout by Democratic leaders of Democrats.

    Blog text (4)

  • Renewing the Bush tax cuts was the ultimate sellout of a presidency without any scruples.

    Blog text (25)

  • I hate both parties; they're both right-wing sellouts, with a few exceptions.

    Blog text (2)

  • Many criticized the politician's decision to accept corporate donations as a sellout of his values.

  • The author's change in tone led his fans to accuse him of being a sellout for the mainstream market.

  • In the community, being labeled a sellout for joining the opposition party can lead to social ostracization.

Synonyms

tergiversation
vssellout
  • Formal
9.9

Abandoning a group or cause for personal gain

is a definite act of betraying principles for clear personal gain

Antonyms

loyalty
503 1.3

Strong and lasting support for a person, group, or idea

integrity
447 4.3

Being honest and doing what is right

Compounds

complete sellout
2.8

An event that sells all its tickets

How Loyal

loyalty
503 1.3
sellout
  • Informal
12 7.8
treachery
46 7.5

Surface Forms

sellout singular
sellouts plural

Morphology

sellout = sell + out (opaque) = sell + out

This sense uses a figurative extension of 'sell out' meaning betray, so the betrayal sense is not directly predictable from the literal parts.

Etymology

Sellout comes from the idea of sell as 'to give up for money or advantage' and out meaning 'completely'. So a sellout is an act of betraying your beliefs or cause for personal gain.