treacherously

[ trech-er-uhs-lee ]

adverb

1. in a way characterized by faithlessness or betrayal; traitorously:

   Darius of Persia was treacherously wounded by two of his own officers.

2. in a way that is deceptive, untrustworthy, or unreliable:

   This peak looks treacherously easy, but it has seen a recurrence of avalanches.

3. in a way or to a degree that is dangerous; hazardously:

   He refused to go faster than 25 mph on the treacherously winding and narrow Wildwood Road.

Other Words From

• un·treach·er·ous·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of treacherously¹

treacherous ( def ) + -ly

Example Sentences

A storm blew in, drenching the stadium and making the shot put ring treacherously slippery.

From Los Angeles Times

Oppens was setting down the first recording of an early, unpublished sonata by the uncompromising modernist Charles Wuorinen, and, like much of Wuorinen’s music, it was treacherously thorny.

From New York Times

The playing surface was treacherously slippy with snow piled up around up around the touchlines and conditions barely playable.

From BBC

The fair, which attracts about a million people over ten days, amounts to a political obstacle course for candidates, who must woo voters in unscripted interactions, flip a pork chop for the cameras, deliver their stump speeches in a public forum and — most treacherously of all — eat fair food while avoiding unflattering photographs.

From New York Times

While the 58th Combined Arms Army he commanded has been holding off a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Zaporizhzhia region, “we were hit in the rear by our senior commander, who treacherously and vilely decapitated our army at the most difficult and tense moment,” General Popov said — an apparent reference to Gen. Valery V. Gerasimov, chief of the armed forces.

From New York Times