loyal
Americanadjective
-
faithful to one's sovereign, government, or state.
a loyal subject.
- Synonyms:
- patriotic
- Antonyms:
- treacherous, faithless, disloyal, treasonous, traitorous
-
faithful to one's oath, commitments, or obligations.
to be loyal to a vow.
-
faithful to any leader, party, or cause, or to any person or thing conceived as deserving fidelity.
a loyal friend.
-
characterized by or showing faithfulness to commitments, vows, allegiance, obligations, etc..
loyal conduct.
adjective
-
having or showing continuing allegiance
-
faithful to one's country, government, etc
-
of or expressing loyalty
Related Words
See faithful.
Other Word Forms
- loyally adverb
- loyalness noun
- nonloyal adjective
- nonloyally adverb
- overloyal adjective
- overloyally adverb
- quasi-loyal adjective
- quasi-loyally adverb
- superloyal adjective
- superloyally adverb
- unloyal adjective
- unloyally adverb
Etymology
Origin of loyal
First recorded in 1525–35; from Middle French, Old French loial, lei(a)l, from Latin lēgālis legal
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the tumultuous first months after the revolution, a group of militant university students loyal to Khomeini occupied the US embassy.
From BBC
Khomeini would become his mentor, a figure to whom he remained ever loyal, running secret missions for him while Khomeini lived in exile.
From Los Angeles Times
Instead, the first move was to hit their loyal fans with a massive price increase for season tickets for the 2026-27 season.
From Los Angeles Times
Leah: I mean, I don't think it's a secret I'm a loyal person.
From BBC
Chait was an apparently safe fallback option — he is widely seen as well-liked, capable and loyal.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
