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desertion Definition

de·ser·tion (di zʉr′s̸hən)

noun

  1. a deserting or being deserted
  2. Law the willful abandonment of one's spouse, children, etc.

Etymology: ME desercioun < OFr desertion < L desertio

desertion Synonyms

desertion

n.

abandonment, flight, escape, departure, leaving, secession, defection, dereliction, renunciation, disavowing, disavowal, disaffection, apostasy, withdrawal, avoidance, evasion, elusion, truancy, repudiation, relinquishment, retirement, resignation, divorce, willful abandonment, abrogation, backsliding, recreancy, falling away, forsaking, decamping, running out on*, going back on*, going AWOL*; see also retreat 1.

Antonyms loyalty*, cooperation*, constancy.

desertion Law Definition

n

The intentional and indefensible abandonment of a responsibility, such as to military service or to a spouse.
desertion Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • cause: Armed with the belief that it was causing mass desertion among troops, it was finally banned in France in 1915.
  • prevent: Primarily designed to prevent desertions, the Act was ere long found to have a farther reach than its framers probably dreamt of.
  • aid: Buchenwald MONTI By being strongly suspected of aiding desertion.
  • face: Thereafter, British ships with Chinese crews which called at US ports faced large-scale desertions.

Converse of subject

  • weaken: The New Orleans police department was weakened by desertion.

Adjective modifier

  • mass: There are articles about mass desertions in the Yugoslav National Army.
  • apparent: The Ben is not alone in its apparent desertion of summer climbers.
  • attempted: Punishments for mistakes or attempted desertions can be very severe, including imprisonment and even execution.
  • widespread: Yet their decapitation strategy only succeeded in removing one Tory minister ( Tim Collins ) and there was no widespread desertion from Labor.
  • wholesale: There had been wholesale desertions on the road south and on December 5th Charles reluctantly agreed to retreat.

Modifies a noun

  • rate: Until 1968 the desertion rate for US troops in Vietnam was lower than in previous wars.

Noun used with modifier

  • wife: The defendant was Joseph BRADLEY, and he was summoned for wife desertion, persistent cruelty and neglect of wife and child.
  • client: Client desertion in microfinance: how to diagnose it successfully?

Possessives

  • husband: Despite her husband's desertion of her she remained devoted to his memory until her own death in 1831.

Preposition: among

  • troop: Armed with the belief that it was causing mass desertion among troops, it was finally banned in France in 1915.

Preposition: in

  • face: Otherwise he is guilty of desertion in the face of the enemy.

Preposition: of

  • settlement: The author then suggests that the desertion of the settlement may have been the tip of a larger iceberg.
  • soldier: The Romans employed the tattoo needle to identify and prevent desertion of mercenary soldiers.

Preposition: from

  • army: A further charge of desertion from the army was not proceeded with.
desertion Quotes

Of all tyrannies in history, the Bolshevik tyranny is the worst, the most destructive, the most degrading. Every British and French soldier killed last year was really done to death by Lenin and Trotskyönot in fair war, but by the treacherous desertion of an ally without parallel in the history of the world.

—Churchill, Lord Randolph Henry Spencer