desertion

UK/dɪˈzɜːʃən/US/dɪˈzɝʃən/

nounC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,264 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: desertions

Desertion is the abandoning of a post, a duty or a person. Charged with desertion, desertion in wartime, desertion of the family.

In the armed forces it is a serious offence and differs from absence without leave by intention, since desertion means not meaning to come back. In old divorce law it was one of the recognised grounds.

Definitions of desertion

1noundesertionThe abandoning of a post, a duty or a person.C1
“In the final months of the war, desertion from the army became common as hope collapsed.”

desertion is an abandoning.

Where it comes from

Middle French
désertion
English, today
desertion

Borrowed from Middle French désertion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

desertion in the wild

Edward Donald Slovik was an American soldier who was court-martialed and executed for desertion during World War II.
Eddie Slovik
In the one-day trial, Teske was found guilty of espionage and desertion.
Werner Teske
The term AWOL, standing for absent without leave, is a term for desertion used in the armed forces of many English-speaking countries.
Leave (military)
Mrs. Gardiner then rallied her niece on Wickham's desertion, and complimented her on bearing it so well.
Pride and Prejudice· Jane Austen

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.

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