defection Definition
de·fec·tion (dē fek′s̸hən, di-)
noun
- abandonment of loyalty, duty, or principle; desertion
- the act of defecting from one's country
- a failing or failure
Etymology: L defectio < defectus: see defect
defection Synonyms
defection
n.
Failure
failing, lack, deficiency; see failure 1, lack 1, 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
- ‹ defect
- ‹ defecation
- ‹ defecate
- ‹ defeature
- ‹ defeatist
- ‹ defeated
- ‹ defeat
- ‹ defeasible
- ‹ defeasance
- ‹ DefCon
- defective ›
- defeminize ›
- defence ›
- defend ›
- defendant ›
- defended ›
- defender ›
- Defender of the Faith ›
- defenestration ›
- defense ›

