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
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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 Those intrepid few who still clung to the belief that American perfidy shielded Duke’s players from true justice just had the rug pulled out from under them by Mangum herself.—The Editors, National Review, 17 Dec. 2024 See All Example Sentences for perfidy
Word History
Etymology
Latin perfidia, from perfidus faithless, from per- detrimental to + fides faith — more at per-, faith
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