turncoat
a person who changes allegiance and joins the opposite side
TRANSLATION
turncoat = der Wendehals, der Abtrünniger, der Opportunist --- GOOGLE INDEX turncoat: approximately 900,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Mafia TURNCOAT: Joseph Massino, ex-Bonnano boss, testifies against fellow mobster Vinny Gorgeous
(New York Daily News)
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Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen was an expert witness during the investigation of the 1979 Three Mile Island accident and has studied the catastrophic failure at Chernobyl in 1986. He has critics aplenty — primarily from inside the nuclear industry who see him as a TURNCOAT.
(Forbes magazine)
(New York Daily News)
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Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen was an expert witness during the investigation of the 1979 Three Mile Island accident and has studied the catastrophic failure at Chernobyl in 1986. He has critics aplenty — primarily from inside the nuclear industry who see him as a TURNCOAT.
(Forbes magazine)
Did you
know?
turncoat
noun
- a person who changes from one opinion to an opposite one in a way which shows they are not loyal to people who share the original opinion
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
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The Online Etymology Dictionary says the English word "turncoat" traces its origins back to 1557, and referred to persons who turned their coats inside out to hide the badge of their party or leader. The modern use, for someone who changes allegiance, is recorded from 1565.
National conflicts and wars inevitably produce people accused of being turncoats. When the Soviet Union system collapsed in the 90s, many party "apparatchiks" abandoned communism in order to fully embrace capitalism. With the money they made, these turncoats transformed into "fur coats." Money talks as they say.
Politics has its share of turncoats of course. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said, "There are still people in my party who believe in consensus politics. I regard them as Quislings, as traitors... I mean it."
Note: Quisling stems from the Norwegian Vidkun Quisling, who assisted Nazi Germany as it conquered his own country so that he could rule the collaborationist Norwegian government himself. The term was coined by the British newspaper The Times in an editorial published in April 1940 and then popularised internationally by the BBC.
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SYNONYMS
Judas, back-stabber, defector, deserter, Quisling, rat, renegade, snake, two-timer
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Be careful about hiring from the competition, turncoats may not be trustworthy."
noun
- a person who changes from one opinion to an opposite one in a way which shows they are not loyal to people who share the original opinion
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
---
The Online Etymology Dictionary says the English word "turncoat" traces its origins back to 1557, and referred to persons who turned their coats inside out to hide the badge of their party or leader. The modern use, for someone who changes allegiance, is recorded from 1565.
National conflicts and wars inevitably produce people accused of being turncoats. When the Soviet Union system collapsed in the 90s, many party "apparatchiks" abandoned communism in order to fully embrace capitalism. With the money they made, these turncoats transformed into "fur coats." Money talks as they say.
Politics has its share of turncoats of course. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said, "There are still people in my party who believe in consensus politics. I regard them as Quislings, as traitors... I mean it."
Note: Quisling stems from the Norwegian Vidkun Quisling, who assisted Nazi Germany as it conquered his own country so that he could rule the collaborationist Norwegian government himself. The term was coined by the British newspaper The Times in an editorial published in April 1940 and then popularised internationally by the BBC.
---
SYNONYMS
Judas, back-stabber, defector, deserter, Quisling, rat, renegade, snake, two-timer
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Be careful about hiring from the competition, turncoats may not be trustworthy."
