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defection Definition

de·fec·tion (dē feks̸hən, di-)

noun

  1. abandonment of loyalty, duty, or principle; desertion
  2. the act of defecting from one's country
  3. a failing or failure

Etymology: L defectio < defectus: see defect

defection Synonyms

defection

n.

  1. Failure

    failing, lack, deficiency; see failure 1, lack 1, 2.

  2. Desertion

    withdrawal, abandonment, apostasy, going over to the other side; see desertion, disloyalty.

defection Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • make: The fourth thing is, to inquire who they are that make this defection from Christ.
  • suffer: Now, if it be asked, Why the Lord suffers defections among his professed disciples?
  • do: Independent of what the other does, defection gives a higher payoff than cooperation.
  • discourage: To ensure confidence in the NPT, we also need firm action to discourage any potential defection from the Treaty.
  • announce: Brain researcher David Nicholls has already announced the defection of his team to the Buck Institute in San Francisco.
  • encourage: The CIA has a program aimed at encouraging such defections.

Converse of subject

weaken: Military resistance was weakened by the defection of the navy.

Adjective modifier

  • mutual: The payoff of mutual defection, DD, provides the baseline outcome that yields a payoff of zero to both participants.
  • mass: The Congress led to mass defection from Communist Parties all over the world.
  • massive: Fri 25th Aug 2006: Massive defection from Labor to the Lib Dems.
  • such: The CIA has a program aimed at encouraging such defections.
  • first: This is the first parliamentary defection to the Tories in 25 years.
  • unilateral: If the sanction imposed by Grim Trigger cannot deter a rational player from unilateral defection, then no cooperative strategy can do so.

Modifies a noun

rate: Customer defection rates in the mobile telecoms sector stand at 33.4 % in 2005, compared to 15.5 % in 2003.

Noun used with modifier

customer: Customer defection rates in the mobile telecoms sector stand at 33.4 % in 2005, compared to 15.5 % in 2003.

Preposition: of

  • member: But it struggled with defections of key consortium members and eventually... Article continues below... ran out of cash just before Christmas.
  • voter: The conservative CDU was way ahead of the SPD in polls thanks to the mass defection of former SPD voters to the non-voting camp.

Preposition: from

  • party: The Congress led to mass defection from Communist Parties all over the world.
  • army: But in 1994-95 they fought inside Iraq, destroyed an Iraqi division, and succeeded in attracting mass defections from the Iraqi army.
  • faith: And then there's defection from the faith and false prophets in verse 11.

Browse dictionary entries near defection

  1. defect
  2. defecation
  3. defecate
  4. defeature
  5. defeatist
  6. defeated
  7. defeat
  8. defeasible
  9. defeasance
  10. DefCon
  1. defective
  2. defeminize
  3. defence
  4. defend
  5. defendant
  6. defended
  7. defender
  8. Defender of the Faith
  9. defenestration
  10. defense