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Glite Dictionary
high treason

high treason

7 8.8
A crime of betraying someone's country by trying to overthrow the government or help its enemies
  • noun
  • /haɪ ˈtriːzən/
  • Formal
translation icon : alta traición
  • Jeremiah Brandreth, Isaac Ludlam, and William Turner were charged with high treason.
  • charged with high treason

Technically, all of these defectors were guilty of high treason.

Examples

  • That is high treason, you know that you can die for that and you will die for that.

    2025: The World Enslaved by a Virus (2021)

  • If you speak a word of what I'm about to show you, you will be executed for high treason.

    The Imitation Game (2014)

  • I charge you with high treason...

    Allied (2016)

  • I now charge this man, Thomas Jordan, with high treason.

    The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

  • The Minister of the Interior is guilty of high treason.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Zalasta's plan involved high treason at the very least.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Mr Sauvage is now awaiting trial for high treason, a crime which still carries the death penalty.

    Johnny English (2003)

  • Jane Dudley, Guilford Dudley, you have been found guilty of high treason.

    Lady Jane (1986)

  • The charge of high treason and the penalty of the axe, usually associated with aristocratic traitors, was especially controversial in the Pentrich case.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Mary, Queen of Scotland, you have been found guilty of high treason.

Synonyms

treason
vshigh treason
  • Formal
183 7.8

A crime of betraying your country by helping an enemy or trying to remove the government by force

includes attempts to harm the sovereign rather than only trying to kill

Antonyms

loyalty
503 1.3

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

Surface Forms

high treason singular
high treasons plural

Morphology

high + treason

The meaning is transparently compositional: 'treason' means betraying the government and the adjective 'high' signals a greater degree or seriousness, so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a very serious form of betrayal (e.g. attempting to overthrow the government). This intensifying pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows normal adjective+noun composition, making the phrase predictable for B1 learners.

Etymology

High treason comes from old laws where treason meant betraying someone and high showed the crime was against the highest person, like the king or the government. So, high treason means the very serious crime of 'betraying your country', for example trying to overthrow the government.