Crossword clues for perfidy
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Perfidy \Per"fi*dy\ (p[~e]r"f[i^]*d[y^]), n.; pl. Perfidies (p[~e]r"f[i^]*d[i^]z). [L. perfidia, fr. L. perfidus faithless; per (cf. Skr. par[=a] away) + fides faith: cf. F. perfidie. See Faith.] The act of violating faith or allegiance; violation of a promise or vow, or of trust reposed; faithlessness; treachery.
The ambition and perfidy of tyrants.
--Macaulay.
His perfidy to this sacred engagement.
--DeQuincey.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1590s, from Middle French perfidie (16c.), from Latin perfidia "faithlessness, falsehood, treachery," from perfidus "faithless," from phrase per fidem decipere "to deceive through trustingness," from per "through" (see per) + fidem (nominative fides) "faith" (see faith).\n\n[C]ombinations of wickedness would overwhelm the world by the advantage which licentious principles afford, did not those who have long practiced perfidy grow faithless to each other.
[Samuel Johnson, "Life of Waller"]
Wiktionary
n. 1 A state or act of violating faith or allegiance; violation of a promise or vow, or of trust reposed; faithlessness; treachery. 2 (context legal English) Specifically, in warfare, an illegitimate act of deception, such as using symbols like the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red%20Cross%20(symbol) or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/white%20flag to gain proximity to an enemy for purposes of attack. 3 A state or act of deceit.
WordNet
n. betrayal of a trust [syn: perfidiousness, treachery]
an act of deliberate betrayal [syn: treachery, betrayal, treason]
Wikipedia
In the context of war, perfidy is a form of deception in which one side promises to act in good faith (such as by raising a flag of truce) with the intention of breaking that promise once the enemy is exposed (such as by coming out of cover to attack the enemy coming to take the "surrendering" prisoners into custody). Perfidy constitutes a breach of the laws of war and so is a war crime, as it degrades the protections and mutual restraints developed in the interest of all parties, combatants, and civilians.
In practice, combatants find it difficult to respect protected persons and objects if experience causes them to believe or suspect that their adversaries are abusing a claim to protection under international law to gain a military advantage.
Perfidy is a 1953 Yugoslavian drama film directed by Vladimir Pogačić. It was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.
__NOTOC__ Perfidy is a book written by Ben Hecht in 1961. The book describes the events surrounding the 1954–1955 Kastner trial in Jerusalem.
The book is based on transcripts from the trial and concludes that in 1944 Rudolf Kastner deliberately withheld from the Jews in Hungary, knowledge that the trains the Nazis were putting them on were taking them to death by the gas chamber, not to a fictitious resettlement city as the Nazis claimed and that Kastner then lied about it under oath. One of the supporting facts presented is that, in the Supreme Court appeal of the original verdict implicating Kastner, all five Supreme Court Judges upheld Judge Halevi's initial verdict on the "criminal and perjurious way" in which Kastner after the war had testified on behalf of Nazi war criminal Kurt Becher. Judge Silberg summed up the Supreme Court finding on this point: "[[Malchiel Gruenwald|[respondent Malchiel] Greenwald]] has proven beyond any reasonable doubt this grave charge." Most of the judgement was later overturned.
Perfidy may refer to:
- Perfidy in war, a criminal form of deception, in which one side promises to act in good faith (e.g. by raising a flag of surrender) with the intention of breaking that promise once the enemy has exposed himself.
- Perfidy (film) (1953), is a Yugoslavian drama film directed by Vladimir Pogacic. It was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.
- Perfidy (book) (1961), written by Ben Hecht, it details the events surrounding the Rudolf Kastner trial.
- Perfidious Albion, a nickname for Great Britain (or often just England)
Usage examples of "perfidy".
He must needs weave his phantasy into some quietly melancholy fabric of didactic or allegorical cast, in which his meekly resigned cynicism may display with naive moral appraisal the perfidy of a human race which he cannot cease to cherish and mourn despite his insight into its hypocrisy.
He branded Simon Peter for his perfidy, and drove him out forever from the apostleship he had disgraced, denouncing him as a son of hell and a predestined citizen of the outer darkness?
Severus mounted the tribunal, sternly reproached them with perfidy and cowardice, dismissed them with ignominy from the trust which they had betrayed, despoiled them of their splendid ornaments, and banished them, on pain of death, to the distance of a hundred miles from the capital.
Although he was firmly resolved to maintain the station which he had assumed, he was still desirous of saving his country from the calamities of civil war, of declining a contest with the superior forces of Constantius, and of preserving his own character from the reproach of perfidy and ingratitude.
The reason that we are now faced with such unpleasant choices regarding Iraq is not so much because of our own failures but because of the perfidy of others.
A romantic obscurity would have hung over the expedition to Egypt, and he would have escaped the perpetration of those crimes which have incarnadined his soul with a deeper dye than that of the purple for which he committed themthose acts of perfidy, midnight murder, usurpation, and remorseless tyranny, which have consigned his name to universal execration, now and forever.
In the interim, the pedestrians on the sidewalk could be entertained by a lengthy tirade of artistically colorful phrases, explosive sighs, and accusations of parental perfidy likely to provoke a visit from the Department of Child Welfare.
I had not the right, I confess, but if I had not taken it I could never have had a certain proof of the perfidy of my mistress.
As we were at some distance from the others I pelted her with abuse, telling her of her perfidy and of her corruption at an age when she should have retained some vestiges of innocence calling her by the name she deserved, as I reminded her how often she had already prostituted herself.
Furthermore, knowing readers would divine the names of all the women and of the men which I have masked, whose transgressions are unknown to the world, my indiscretion would injure them, they would cry out against my perfidy, even though every word of my history were true .
For the year before, while Caesar was holding the assizes in Hither Gaul, Titus Labienus, having discovered that Comius was tampering with the state, and raising a conspiracy against Caesar, thought he might punish his infidelity without perfidy.
The perfidy of the white men who revealed the secret of the caches, was, however, perfectly inexplicable.
His opponents were portrayed in grainy black-and-white, overlaid with tabloid-type headlines decrying their perfidy.
Severus mounted the tribunal, sternly reproached them with perfidy and cowardice, dismissed them with ignominy from the trust which they had betrayed, despoiled them of their splendid ornaments, and banished them, on pain of death, to the distance of a hundred miles from the capital.
Had you not suspected and been able to effect Harlan's release, we might have discovered all too late the perfidy planned against the entire Alliance.